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| Sri Lanka |
| Maldivian Islamists being held in Colombo |
| 2006-04-30 |
| Amidst conflicting reports and rumours, it has emerged that five Maldivians are being questioned in Male over an alleged attempt to fly to the Middle East, via Colombo, to link up with fundamentalist islamic groups. Three were arrested at Colombo airport on Sunday after their families reportedly discovered letters outlining their intentions and alerted the authorities. Chief Government Spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhood) confirmed on Monday that three 21 year old girls, a 21 year old man and a 27 year old man were arrested and brought to Male for interrogation. He said that two girls and the 21-year-old boy were arrested at Sri Lanka's airport and that the other two were arrested later on. "A guardian of one of them informed police on April 17 that the youth under that person's guardianship along with that youth's friends had gone missing. The guardian said that those youth had fundamentalist ideas and that they were going to do 'certain things'. From that point on police started investigations where they came to know that the youths had flown to Sri Lanka," he said. One policeman involved in the case in Colombo suggested that three of the suspects were trying to reach North West Province, Pakistan. They were waiting for a flight to Qatar when they were apprehended. They were taken into custody at the request of the Maldives government and handed over to the Maldivian high commission, according to Sri Lankan police chief Chandra Fernando. "We acted on a request by the Maldivian authorities," Fernando told AFP. "We have no information to suggest that the suspects are Al-Qaeda." Some family members are reportedly angry at the way the Maldivian authorities have handled the case, claiming that their relatives were 'young runaways', and were not making a serious attempt to participate in jihadi activities. Speaking to Minivan from Male on Wednesday, Mohamed Arif, whose niece 'Raushan' is allegedly one of the girls under arrest, said she was an "extreme and very strict Muslim" but claimed that she had been brainwashed by others. He alleged that a Maldivian called 'Ali Jaleel' was the ringleader of the group, although Minivan could not confirm whether such a man was being held by the authorities. There are 52 madrassas (Islamic schools) in Maldives, set up under the patronage of President Gayoom. Some have been linked to militant Islam in recent years. A Maldivian idenitified as Ibrahim Fauzee appeared in the list of detainees held by the United States at its military base at Guantanmo Bay, Cuba. He was released in 2005 and has returned to Maldives. There is no indication that he is linked to the current arrests. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |