Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05COLOMBO837
2005-05-05 06:15:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Colombo
Cable title:  

MALDIVES BLACKLISTS FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR

Tags:  PTER PGOV CASC MV 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000837 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
USPACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2015
TAGS: PTER PGOV CASC MV
SUBJECT: MALDIVES BLACKLISTS FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR
SUSPECTED TERRORIST LINKS

REF: USDAO COLOMBO IIR 6 816 0132 05 (NOTAL)

Classified By: CDA JAMES F. ENTWISTLE. REASON: 1.4 (B,D).

------
SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 000837

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
USPACOM FOR FPA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/02/2015
TAGS: PTER PGOV CASC MV
SUBJECT: MALDIVES BLACKLISTS FOREIGN NATIONALS FOR
SUSPECTED TERRORIST LINKS

REF: USDAO COLOMBO IIR 6 816 0132 05 (NOTAL)

Classified By: CDA JAMES F. ENTWISTLE. REASON: 1.4 (B,D).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) On May 2 Maldivian Foreign Secretary Abdul Hameed
Zakariyya met with CDA in Colombo to advise him that the
Government of the Republic of Maldives (GORM) had blacklisted
eight foreigners, including an apparent American citizen,
from entering Maldives because of suspected links to a
Maldivian Muslim fundamentalist recently deported from India
for attempting to purchase arms (Reftel). When asked for
evidence of such links, Zakariyya was unable to provide any,
other than (sometimes tenuous) ties to the Maldivian
Democratic Party (MDP),a pro-reform organization opposed to
the GORM. Representatives of the MDP and a blacklisted
British national who was denied entry to Maldives on April 28
told us that the GORM's current campaign is timed to coincide
with the return to Maldives of an MDP activist who had spent
several years abroad in self-imposed exile. The GORM has
asserted to us before--most recently in the aftermath of
civil unrest in August 2004--an MDP connection to Muslim
fundamentalists/extremists/terrorists, but thus far remains
unable to provide credible evidence to support that claim.
We will continue to urge the GORM not to lump advocates of
peaceful reform in with those who apparently seek to topple
President Gayoom through violent means. End summary.

--------------
GORM WATCHLISTS SUSPECT FOREIGNERS
--------------


2. (C) In a May 2 meeting with CDA in Colombo, Maldivian
Foreign Secretary Abdul Hameed Zakariyya provided additional
information on Ibrahim Asif, the Maldivian citizen arrested
and deported by Indian authorities in April for allegedly
attempting to purchase weapons and explosives in Kerala
(Reftel). Zakariyya attempted to link Asif (now in custody
in Maldives) and his purported ties with Muslim
fundamentalists to exiled members of the Maldivian Democratic
Party (MDP),an opposition group not officially recognized in
Maldives, and Friends of Maldives (FOM),a UK-based
organization that supports democratic reforms in the island

state. When asked by CDA if the Government of Republic of
Maldives (GORM) had concrete evidence linking these three
entities, Zakariyya replied in the negative. The FOM and the
MDP are certainly linked, however, he asserted, because a
Maldivian national living in UK is the treasurer for both
groups. According to Zakariyya, one of these accounts was
closed by a UK bank "due to suspicious dealings." (Note: We
have known for some time that the MDP and FOM have ties;
neither organization makes any attempt to hide the
relationship. FOM head David Hardingham and MDP Chairman
Mohamed Nasheed were college roommates, and some of the
funding sources, especially in FOM's formative stages, are
probably the same. Hardingham told us that most of FOM's
funds now come from private British citizens. We have no
reason to suspect either group of terrorist ties. End note.)


3. (C) Operating on the assumption that all three entities
were linked, the GORM has placed eight foreign nationals,
including one individual it believes is a U.S. citizen, on a
watchlist with the intent of denying them entry to Maldives,
Zakariyya reported. Zakariyya identified the U.S. citizen as
Nick Grace, the head of a website called
ClandestineRadio.com, whom the Foreign Secretary described as
a "psychological warfare expert." (In a December
conversation with CDA, Chief Government Spokesman Dr. Ahmed
Shaheed had also mentioned Grace--although not in the context
of blacklisting him--expressing concern that Grace may have
helped opposition activists to set up a clandestine radio
station.) In addition to Grace, the list includes two
Jordanians, two Pakistanis and three British citizens, all of
whom are believed to have some connection to either Asif, the
MDP or FOM. As a result, Zakariyya added, British citizen
and FOM head David Hardingham had already been barred from
entering the country on April 28 (see para 5 below).


4. (C) Zakariyya offered several reasons for the GORM's
decision to deny Hardingham entry. First, he said,
Hardingham was coming to Maldives to distribute tsunami aid
collected in the UK through FOM's own network, bypassing the
GORM's tsunami fund. The Foreign Secretary said he thought
that initiative was inappropriate, as the GORM wants to track
all aid distributed to ensure it reaches those most in need.
Zakariyya also claimed that Hardingham knew the editor of a
UK-based web magazine, the Dhivehi Observer, which had put
out an editorial last December implying that President Gayoom
should be killed. (Note: The Dhivehi Observer is an
anti-government website that often publishes extreme views.
Its editor, a UK citizen of Maldivian extraction, is a
council member of the MDP but has no connection to FOM. End
note.) He also provided the text of an e-mail purportedly
sent by Hardingham to several Maldivian associates in
September opining that the British government was unlikely to
be interested in events in Maldives unless there were "a lack
of stability affecting the financial equilibrium or
international security--like fundamentalist terrorism." The
message went on speculate that "the threat of (President)
Gayoom providing fertile ground for fundamentalism" might
"stir" the UK's interest.


5. (C) Charge told Zakariyya that the U.S. takes terrorism
issues seriously and is following up on the information the
GORM has provided on Asif. At the same time, the U.S. is
skeptical about assertions that the MDP and groups like FOM
were linked to violence and terrorism. Charge cautioned
Zakariyya to be very careful about making such assertions
without adequate basis.

--------------
MDP, FOM SEE GORM PLOT
--------------


6. (C) On May 3 poloff met with Mohamad Latheef, the head of
the MDP who lives in self-imposed exile in Sri Lanka, his
daughter Jennifer Latheef and FOM head David Hardingham, a
British national. Hardingham confirmed that he had been
barred from entering Maldives April 28 (when transiting
Colombo en route from London to Male, he was informed by Sri
Lankan Airlines that the GORM had requested he not be
permitted to board the onward flight). He expressed concern
that the GORM might also have listed him on an Interpol or
other international watchlist, citing a May 1 statement from
a Government Spokesman that Hardingham was under
investigation for involvement with "a fundamentalist Islamic
group."

7 (C) Strenuously denying any link to Muslim
fundamentalists, terrorists or arms smugglers, the Briton
said that he suspects that the real reasons for his
blacklisting are his support for democratic reform in
Maldives, his human rights activities and his reluctance to
use GORM channels for tsunami aid distribution. (Hardingham
said he had registered a charity, Maldives Aid, in the UK
after the tsunami. The charity has provided 100 tons of
food, medicine, clothing, kitchen utensils and school
supplies directly to tsunami victims.) In fact, he asserted,
his primary reason for traveling to Maldives was to work out
with GORM authorities the distribution of the last remaining
container of relief items. The previous shipment, which
contained buckets of school supplies, toys and books
hand-packed by British children, was held up by Maldivian
customs officials because one bucket contained a book with
Christmas pictures in it; the delay cost the charity a
significant sum, Hardingham said. He remarked ruefully on
the irony of the GORM alleging his connection to Islamic
fundamentalists, noting that in the past he has had to fight
GORM accusations of being a Christian missionary. He
speculated that his recent efforts to draw international
attention to the March 9 death in police custody of Muaviyath
Mahmooodh, a young Maldivian detained on Dhoonidhoo Island on
drug offenses, and the alleged torture by police of another
detainee, had also provoked GORM ire.


8. (C) Latheef and Hardingham speculated that the April 24
arrest of Ibrahim Asif in India and the subsequent and highly
publicized blacklisting of Hardingham were timed to coincide
with--and thus overshadow--the April 30 return to Maldives of
MDP chairperson Mohamed Nasheed after several years of
self-imposed exile in the UK (where he obtained asylum) and
Sri Lanka. The publicity surrounding Nasheed's plans to
return--including his own press releases announcing those
plans--gave the GORM ample opportunity to set up the whole
"arrest" of Asif in advance--perhaps even with the complicity
of the Indian government, Latheef suggested--and then
fabricate links between the MDP and the arms smuggler to
discredit the pro-democracy group. Publicizing a purported
terrorist plot against the government could be "a
diversionary tactic" to deflect international attention from
GORM human rights abuses and the growing clamor for
democratic reforms, Latheef and Hardingham charged.


9. (C) The GORM clearly feels threatened by Nasheed's
popularity, Latheef asserted, and fears his attempts to
organize the MDP at home will be successful. (Note: Nasheed
was expected to open an MDP office in Maldives this week.
End note.) Thousands of people greeted Nasheed on his
return, Latheef claimed, alleging that GORM "thugs," armed
with iron bars, had attempted unsuccessfully to provoke a
violent incident. Echoing some of Hardingham's comments,
Latheef noted that the GORM tries to discredit the MDP to
Maldivian audiences by depicting the group as Christians
(indeed, an anti-MDP website run by President Gayoom's son
depicts Nasheed wearing a papal mitre) and to western
audiences as Islamic fundamentalists. Although the GORM has
not harassed Nasheed so far, Latheef acknowledged, he is
nonetheless sure the GORM is "gearing up" again to repress
and arrest pro-reform activists as it did in August--and will
use evidence of an anti-Gayoom-cum-fundamentalist plot as
justification.


10. (C) Both Latheef and Hardingham denied knowing Asif,
who had reportedly been living in Sri Lanka in the
northwestern district of Puttalam. Latheef acknowledged that
Asif had worked three years ago in a clothing shop Latheef
owns in a northern atoll but said Asif was fired by the
manager for incompetence after just a few weeks. Asif had
also worked for a while as a manager at an agricultural
company owned by Nasheed's father, he admitted, but was fired
from there as well. Maldivian society is so small that it is
easy to find some kind of connection between individuals,
Latheef concluded.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


11. (C) The Embassy has had no contact with Nick Grace and
has no information on his citizenship. We will attempt to
contact him and tell him we understand he is on a GORM
wathchlist. In late summer/early autumn of 2004 Latheef and
Nasheed had told us that MDP wanted to set up an opposition
radio broadcast but did not identify Nick Grace or any other
American as offering or providing assistance. A quick check
of www.clandestineradio.com suggests that the site tracks
opposition radio broadcasts from all over the world but does
not suggest that the group assists in setting up these
broadcasts. Nick Grace is listed on the homepage as
"Washington Managing Editor." The site's section for
Maldives lists Minivan Radio, its short-wave frequencies,
time of broadcast, and listener critiques of the quality of
transmission. The sole "newsclip" for Minivan Radio posted
on the site is a report on tsunami relief originally posted
on BBC's website. Although the site's "intel" section names
Friends of Maldives as the broadcast's sponsor, Hardingham
denied any ownership, telling us that MDP operates Minivan
Radio.


12. (C) Comment (cont.): The combined total land mass of
Maldives seems hardly large enough to accommodate the
elaborate conspiracy theories and counter-theories depicted
by the GORM and its opponents. If true, Asif's reported
attempts to smuggle arms and explosives into Maldives are an
obvious cause for concern, and the GORM has a responsibility
to investigate. We remain unconvinced, however, that there
is any link between possible Islamic
fundamentalists/terrorists on the one hand and MDP and FOM on
the other. Nothing Zakariyya was able to tell us suggests
the GORM has any such evidence either. We hope Latheef's
accusation that the government is "gearing up" to suppress
reform is unfounded. GORM decisions to hold the People's
Majlis elections so soon after the tsunami and to allow
Nasheed to return unharassed to Maldives would seem to
suggest the contrary. That said, the GORM's attempts to
demonize its critics is a discouraging reversion to tired old
tactics we had hoped the government had abandoned. We will
continue to press the GORM to move ahead on the road to
reform. (An update on political reform efforts follows
septel.) We will also continue to tell the GORM that the
U.S. is eager to cooperate on cases of suspected terrorism
(as that of Mr. Asif would appear to be) but not interested
in unsubstantiated assertions that the MDP and similar groups
support terrorism and violence.
ENTWISTLE