International

A man walks gingerly over a small field in rural Cambodia, pushing a lawnmower-like contraption that deploys ground-penetrating radar to unearth clues of mass graves. The pilot project is twinning technology and fieldwork to locate remains of victims of the Khmer Rouge, the ultra-Maoist regime whose quest to build an agrarian utopia from 1975-1979 left an estimated 2mn  Cambodians dead. Hacked to death, starved, overworked or ravaged by illness, their bodies were dumped in hastily dug pits all over the country. They were thrown in rice paddies, down caves and on the grounds of Buddhist  monasteries.  Many of the “Killing Fields” have been logged, providing experts with an estimate of 20,000 mass graves – which is defined as a pit containing four or more bodies – throughout the  country.  But researchers are now turning to radar to uncover more details on the existing sites – such as how many bodies they might contain – and find new ones. “This is the first time ever that we have used high-end technology in Cambodia to locate mass graves created by the Khmer Rouge,” said Pheng Pong-Rasy from the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam), which is overseeing the effort. He added that DC-Cam decided to start the new search in the eastern province of Prey Veng, where the Khmer Rouge’s revolutionary movement had some of its early gains. “The children must know their own history, what happened in their location,” he said. They began in late October next to buildings at Mesang High School – specifically plots close to some concrete toilets and an outdoor cafeteria. The area was once a worship site but the Khmer Rouge converted it into a place for executions. After the regime fell a school was built nearby. Students and residents helped clear the overgrown area and operators from SparrowHawk Far East, a new Phnom Penh-based company tapped to test out the idea, walked over it sending radar signals below that can later be developed into three- dimensional images. “When there is an object underground or the ground has been disturbed before, if there was a hole dug, it will give off a different signature,” managing director Michael Henshaw said. “It’s good for finding underground utilities like water pipes and electric pipes, it’s good for archaeology to find old structures underground,” he said. “But it’s also been used to find mass graves.” Khmer Rouge researchers have since the 1990s relied mainly on meticulous interviews with the regime’s victims and perpetrators to pinpoint the locations of mass graves. Elsewhere radar has helped locate indigenous burial sites – graves from the Spanish Civil War in 1936-1939 and victims of the 1990s conflict in Bosnia.  In September, it also aided in the discovery of at least 166 bodies in the Mexican state of Veracruz, a territory plagued by drug cartels. Henshaw said the results can bring about a greater understanding of what happened in Cambodia. “We can try to put a better number on how many victims there actually were,” he said. As curious students look on, Henshaw examines preliminary results on a screen while the sun, interrupted by the occasional rainshower, beats down. He points to what he calls “anomalies”, which look like small ridges next to each other, possibly signifying decomposed remains. “But this definitely tells you that there is something under the ground, and there’s a  lot of it.” SparrowHawk is plugging the data into special software and preparing a full report on their findings, and DC-CAM will then make a decision on how far to replicate the study.  No matter the results from Prey Veng there will be no excavations and reburials. In keeping with local tradition, the remains will not be disturbed  and will stay where they are. “They already died without justice, so if we dig up graves, it will destroy their souls,” Pong-Rasy said. “We just want to know how many bodies are in the graves.” DC-Cam maintains a database of mass graves previously discovered and it has provided information on sites to a war crimes tribunal that has convicted two top Khmer  Rouge officials and a chief jailer. But Youk Chhang, DC-Cam’s director, said the picture is still incomplete.  “Crimes do not end at a tribunal,” he said, adding that a better future for Cambodia required “understanding the horrors” of its past.  “We should not stop searching for the answers”.

Lawyers for two Myanmar Reuters journalists filed an appeal yesterday against their seven-year jail sentence linked to their reporting on the Rohingya crisis, the news agency said. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were found guilty under a state secrets act in September after exposing the extrajudicial killing of 10 Rohingya men during a brutal military crackdown last year. The verdict – following what was widely viewed as a sham trial held to intimidate Myanmar’s nascent community of journalists – sparked widespread  condemnation. Reuters president and editor-in-chief Stephen J Adler said in a statement the ruling ignored “compelling evidence” that the two reporters had been framed by the authorities. “We filed an appeal today on behalf of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo because the trial court’s ruling  was wrong,” he said.  “In condemning them as spies, it ignored compelling evidence of a police set-up, serious due process violations and the prosecution’s failure to prove any of the key elements of the crime.”  During the trial, one whistleblowing police officer told the court how a superior had ordered his men to set up a sting to entrap the reporters – testimony the judge chose to ignore. Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was widely criticised for refusing to intervene even though her government had the power to drop the charges. President Win Myint – a proxy of Suu Kyi – has the power to pardon the reporters but has so far not commented on the case. The High Court is likely to take up to five or six months to rule on the appeal, during which time the reporters will remain in prison. The pair were investigating the massacre of 10 Rohingya men by security forces in Inn Din village in western Rakhine state, an atrocity to which the military later admitted in a rare  acknowledgement of wrongdoing.  Myanmar troops, aided by mobs of ethnic Rakhine Buddhists, drove out more than 720,000 Rohingya from Rakhine state last year, forcing them into sprawling camps in  neighbouring Bangladesh. The refugees brought with them consistent testimony of widespread murder, rape, torture and arson. UN investigators say the violence warrants the prosecution of top generals for an “ongoing genocide”, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Myanmar insists that the campaign in Rakhine was a proportionate response to Rohingya militant attacks on security forces and vehemently rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction over the country.

Indonesia is to launch a “special audit” of Lion Air’s operations in the wake of last week’s deadly crash that killed 189 people, the government said yesterday.   The budget carrier has been a regular target of complaints about poor service, unreliable scheduling and safety issues, including a fatal 2004 crash. That safety record has been under the microscope since a new Boeing 737-Max 8 plunged into the Java Sea just 12 minutes after taking off from Jakarta last Monday.  “We will ... conduct a special audit of the crews’ qualifications and staff communication,” transportation minister Budi Karya Sumadi told reporters. “This is a preventative measure...(The accident) is a very expensive lesson for us.”  Civil Aviation authorities in the United States and Europe were also being consulted for their help in the probe, he added. Meanwhile, authorities have extended their search as they collect more body parts and shattered debris from the spot where the plane crashed during a routine one-hour flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang.  Scores of body bags filled with remains have been collected and sent for DNA testing, but so far just 14 people have been identified. Search and rescue agency head Muhammad Syaugi tearfully apologised as relatives’ clamour for answers grew louder, with accusations that the pace of recovery is lagging. “We are not perfect human beings,” he said, sobbing. “We have flaws, but we doing the best we can.” The Lion Air investigation comes after Indonesia’s government ordered an inspection of all Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in the country. All were found to be airworthy although two required repairs for “minor” problems. The ministry had previously removed several Lion Air executives and technicians, saying they were needed to help authorities in the investigation. A week after the disaster, there is still no answer as to what caused the crash.  Divers have pulled the plane’s flight data recorder from the water, but are still hunting for the cockpit voice recorder – a key device that could provide clues to what caused the almost brand-new plane to plunge into the sea. Lion Air’s admission that the doomed jet had a technical issue on a previous flight – and the captain’s request to turn back to the airport minutes before its fatal dive – have raised questions about whether it had faults specific to one of the world’s newest and most advanced commercial passenger planes. Tearful relatives demand answers Relatives of the victims of an Indonesian jet that crashed into the sea off Jakarta last week killing all 189 on board demanded answers yesterday as to why the plane had been passed fit to fly and called for no let up in the search for loved ones. Indonesian authorities on Sunday extended by three days the search for victims and a second black box recorder from wreckage of a nearly new Boeing Co 737 MAX that slammed into the sea a week ago only minutes after it took off from Jakarta. At a news conference charged with emotion, relatives addressed questions to Indonesian officials including transport minister Budi Karya Sumadi and the head of the country’s transportation safety committee (KNKT). “We are the victims here. Imagine if you were in our position,” said Najib Fuquoni, a relative of a victim, demanding an independent investigation into the crash. Muhammad Bambang Sukandar, the father of another victim, said Lion Air technicians needed to take “full responsibility” if it was proved they had not properly attended to technical issues following the jet’s previous flight from Bali to Jakarta.

Voting was underway yesterday for Myanmar’s parliamentary by-elections with 69 candidates in the fray for 13 seats. The 69 candidates, 62 from 24 political parties and seven individual candidates, are competing for 13 parliamentary seats in nine regions and states, where 1,383 polling stations are set up, reports Xinhua news agency. Of the 13 open parliamentary seats, four are available with the House of Representative (Lower House), one with the House of Nationalities (Upper House) and eight with the state or region parliaments. Of the 62 candidates, 13 were nominated by the ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) to compete in all seats, while 10 by the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) and the rest were sent by other parties. In Yangon region, a total of 100,553 eligible voters were expected to vote in two township constituencies, namely Tanmwe and Seikkan, open for each seat of the House of Representatives and region parliament respectively. More than 900,000 eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots.

Chayan Kumar Chaudhary flicked through photographs captured on a hidden camera in the jungle, hoping his favourite big cat – dubbed “selfie tiger” for its love of the limelight – had made another appearance. Thousands of camera traps have helped conservationists track Nepal’s wild tiger population, which has nearly doubled in recent years as the big cats claw their way back from the verge of extinction. After a nine-year push to protect tigers, an exhaustive census across 2,700km (1,700 miles) of Nepal’s lowlands completed earlier this year revealed the population has grown from 121 in 2009 to an estimated 235 adult cats today. On the frontline of the painstaking survey were trained locals like Chaudhary in western Nepal’s Bardia National Park where tiger numbers have grown nearly fivefold. The 25-year-old helped track and record wild tiger movements through the park by scanning images taken by cameras hidden in the jungle’s undergrowth.  “It was very exciting when we checked the (memory) cards and found photos of tigers,” Chaudhary said. “It felt like we are part of something big.” Nepal’s southern lowlands, home to five national parks, were mapped into grids, each fitted with a pair of camera traps to record any tiger activity.  More than 3,200 of these special camera traps were installed, some by field workers on elephants to navigate the dense jungle. “It was not an easy process and risky as well,” said Man Bahadur Khadka, head of Nepal’s department of wildlife and national parks.  These cameras were equipped with sensors that triggered a click whenever any movement or a change in temperature was detected. Soon the photos started to trickle in: lone tigers walking past, mothers with their playful cubs and the occasional tiger feasting on a fresh kill. And Chaudhary’s favourite: a big cat that seemed to enjoy preening in front of the lens. The census began in November 2017 and by the following March, more than 4,000 images of tigers had been collected. Nepal has tough punishments for poachers – up to 15 years in jail and a heavy fine – and it has recently started a genetic database of its tigers to aid investigations.

A top Myanmar official said yesterday that his country would take back a first group of 2,000 Rohingya refugees from camps in Bangladesh this month despite widespread doubts over the proposal. Officials from the two countries announced on Tuesday that some of the 720,000 Muslim Rohingya who fled a deadly military clampdown in the Buddhist-majority country last year would start returning this month. Myanmar foreign secretary Myint Thu visited the camps in Cox’s Bazar yesterday to discuss the repatriations with refugees. Most repeated demands that they be given Myanmar nationality with full rights before they return. Thu said Myanmar has verified 5,000 names on a list of 8,032 Rohingya that Bangladesh authorities sent in February. “From that 5,000, the first batch will be about 2,000 people. And then a second batch will follow. So in mid-November we will receive the first batch,” Thu told reporters. Bangladesh officials said a new list of 24,342 Rohingya names was handed over in talks this week.  But Rohingya representatives expressed strong doubts about going back despite the announcement. “We would rather die in the camp in Bangladesh. We will not return without any guarantee of citizenship or fully restored rights,” Abdul Hakim, one refugee from Myanmar’s Rakhine state, said. The United Nations, aid groups and even Bangladesh authorities have said any repatriation must be voluntary.  Oxfam spokesperson Rachael Reilly said the refugees “want to see justice served and an end to the violence and discrimination that have caused this crisis”. “It is deeply concerning that Rohingya people may be sent back to Myanmar to face the same persecution they fled,” she said. The 720,000 joined about 300,000 who fled earlier violence in Myanmar, where the Rohingya are refused citizenship and rights. Many brought harrowing tales of rape, murder and burning of villages. Investigators have said senior Myanmar military officials should be prosecuted for genocide, but Myanmar has rejected the calls, insisting it only targeted militants. The two neighbours first announced a large-scale repatriation plan in November 2017. But it has failed to advance, with each government blaming the other.

An Indonesian aircraft with 189 people on board crashed into the sea yesterday as it tried to circle back to the capital, Jakarta, from where it had taken off minutes earlier, and there were likely no survivors, officials said.  Lion Air flight JT610, an almost new Boeing 737 MAX 8, was en route to Pangkal Pinang, capital of the Bangka-Belitung tin mining region. Rescue officials said they had recovered some human remains from the crash site, about 15km off the coast. Indonesia is one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets, but its safety record is patchy. If all aboard have died, the crash will be the country’s second-worst air disaster since 1997, industry experts said. The pilot had asked to return to base (RTB) after the plane took off from Jakarta. It lost contact with ground staff after 13 minutes.  “An RTB was requested and had been approved but we’re still trying to figure out the reason,” Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesia’s transport safety committee, told reporters, referring to the pilot’s request.  “We hope the black box is not far from the main wreckage so it can be found soon,” he said, referring to the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. Search and rescue agency head Muhmmad Syaugi told a news conference that no distress signal had been received from the aircraft’s emergency transmitter. Yusuf Latief, spokesman of national search and rescue agency, said there were “likely no survivors.”  At least 23 government officials, four employees of state tin miner PT Timah and three employees of a Timah subsidiary, were on the plane. A Lion Air official said one Italian passenger and an Indian pilot were on board. Edward Sirait, chief executive of Lion Air Group, told reporters the aircraft had had a technical problem on a flight from the resort island of Bali to Jakarta but it had been “resolved according to procedure”.  Sirait declined to specify the nature of the issue but said none of its other aircraft of that model had the same problem. Lion had operated 11 Boeing 737 MAX 8s and it had no plan to ground the rest of them, he said. The accident is the first to be reported involving the widely sold Boeing 737 MAX, an updated, more fuel-efficient version of the manufacturer’s workhorse single-aisle jet. Privately owned Lion Air said the aircraft had been in operation since August, was airworthy, with its pilot and co-pilot together having accumulated 11,000 hours of flying time.  On tarpaulins at Jakarta’s port, officers laid out items retrieved from the sea ranging from oxygen bottles to personal belongings such as wallets, a mobile phone, cash and backpacks. Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said nine body bags had been taken to a hospital for identification, though officials said they contained body parts, not intact remains. A Reuters witness saw more body bags arriving at the port. The plane went down in waters about 30m to 35m (98 to 115ft) deep. Bambang Suryo, operational director of the search and rescue agency, said divers had stopped the search for the night, but sonar vessels would continue hunting for the fuselage, where many of the victims were believed to be trapped. An underwater drone is also trying to find the wreckage, he said. The flight took off in clear weather at around 6.20am and was due to have landed in Pangkal Pinang at 7.20am. Distraught relatives of those on board arrived at the airport in Jakarta and Pangkal Pinang. “Be patient, pray the best for papa,” one woman arriving at Jakarta airport told a sobbing girl. The woman declined to speak to reporters. A Lion Air executive said the airline had flown 98 relatives to Jakarta from Pangkal Pinang. President Joko Widodo told a news conference authorities were focusing on the search and rescue, and he called for the country’s prayers. Boeing was deeply saddened by the loss, it said in a statement, and was ready to provide technical assistance for the investigation. Under international rules, the US National Transportation Safety Board will automatically assist with the inquiry, backed up by technical advisers from Boeing and US-French engine maker CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran. Data from FlightRadar24 shows the first sign of something amiss was around two minutes into the flight, when the plane had reached 2,000ft (610m). It descended more than 500ft (152m) and veered to the left before climbing again to 5,000ft (1,524m), where it stayed during most of the rest of the flight. It began gaining speed in the final moments and reached 345 knots (397mph) before data was lost when it was at 3,650ft (1,113m). The plane was leased from CMIG Aviation Capital, an arm of China Minsheng Investment Group, according to the Flightglobal Ascend database. Indonesia’s worst air disaster was in 1997, when a Garuda Indonesia A300 crashed in the city of Medan, killing 214 people. Founded in 1999, Lion Air’s only fatal accident was in 2004, when an MD-82 crashed upon landing at Solo City, killing 25 of the 163 on board, the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network says.  In April, the airline announced a firm order to buy 50 Boeing 737 MAX 10 narrowbody jets with a list price of $6.24bn. It is one of the US planemaker’s largest customers globally.

In the heart of Hanoi’s busy Old Quarter, French-built railroad tracks have become a hotspot for tourists seeking the perfect Instagram selfie, and for cafe owners serving up hot coffee and cold beverages. Though picturesque, they are also perilous: the tracks are still in use and most days visitors must scramble for safety as the daily train rumbles through the narrow streets. But for many, the thrill of dodging a speedy train is part of the  appeal.  “It was amazing but scary in the same sense, a little bit overwhelming being so close to the train,” Australian tourist Michelle  Richards said.  The tracks were first built by former colonial rulers France who used the railway to transport goods and people across Vietnam - then part of Indochina, along with Laos and Cambodia.  During the Vietnam War, parts of the railway were badly damaged by American bombs that rained down on the communist-ruled north.  Today the original metre-gauge tracks are still a mode of transport for tourists and travellers seeking a cheaper option.  But in the past few years, visitors to Hanoi have seized upon their photographic possibilities. Hemmed in by houses and cafes, the tracks offer a unique charm for budding travel photographers - and a business opportunity for makeshift cafe owners who  have set up shop.  “It’s got a really weird charm. You’ve got flowers from the balcony coming down, you’ve got buildings which are very old and close to each other. You see people here living close to the train tracks,” Hong Kong tourist Edward Tsim said. As the train rumbles into view, everyone clears the tracks and pulls their phones out to capture the scene.  “It felt like waiting for Christmas... and when it arrived, wow, it was something else,” British  tourist Paul Hardiman said. “Well worth the wait.”

A Myanmar judge yesterday freed on bail three journalists from the country’s largest private newspaper detained on incitement charges after publishing an article that raised questions over government spending. Eleven Media’s chief reporter, Phyo Wai Win, and two editors, Kyaw Zaw Lin and Nayi Min, were arrested on October 10 following a complaint by the regional government in the commercial capital of Yangon. Their detention, in Insein prison on the outskirts of the city, marked the latest blow to press freedom in the country, where dozens of journalists have been prosecuted in recent months. “As a reporter, I wrote my articles based on true information,” said Phyo Wai Win, as he walked free from the crowded courtroom in central Yangon’s Tamwe township yesterday. The next hearing has been scheduled for November 9. Explaining her decision to grant bail, judge Tin War War Thein told the court the journalists did not pose a flight risk. “The punishment for the section is not a life sentence but two years maximum, and the accused are working at a journal based in Tamwe township, so they have no reason to run away,” she said. The trio are facing charges under Section 505 (b) of the country’s colonial-era penal code, which prohibits publishing information that may “cause fear or alarm”, that could cause someone to commit an offence, or disrupt “public tranquility”. The charges carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison. Days before their arrest, they had published a story that included quotes from lawmakers questioning the city’s use of funds, including the overhaul of transport. Yangon’s regional government is headed by Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein, a protégé of Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a member of her National League for Democracy party. Last week, media reported, Myanmar President Win Myint ordered regional authorities to try to settle the dispute through negotiations with Myanmar’s Press Council, which has said the case must be dismissed before talks can start. “According to that instruction, the Yangon regional government should have dismissed the case today,” said defence lawyer Kyee Myint. The chief minister’s assistant, Maung Maung Kyi, did not answer phone calls on Friday. Government spokesman Zaw Htay also could not be reached for comment. He recently said he would no longer respond to media requests, apart from in a biweekly press conference. Human rights activists say press freedom in Myanmar has plummeted since Nobel laureate Suu Kyi took power in 2016 under a constitution that preserves the military’s role in politics while formally ending decades of army rule. A total of 38 journalists have faced charges under various laws since the start of her administration, freedom of expression group Athan said last month. Two Reuters reporters were convicted last month of breaching the Official Secrets Act and sentenced to seven years in prison, drawing global condemnation. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, were detained last December while investigating a massacre of 10 Rohingya Muslims that took place during a military crackdown in western Rakhine state. Also last month, a former newspaper columnist who was harshly critical of Suu Kyi on Facebook was sentenced to seven years in prison for sedition.

Hundreds of sacks filled with plastic waste from the United States, Britain, South Korea and Spain spill onto the streets of an industrial zone in Pulau Indah, an island town just an hour’s drive from Kuala Lumpur and home to Malaysia’s biggest port. The stench of burning plastic and fumes from nearly a dozen recycling factories wafts through the neighbourhood, even as more container-loads of plastic waste are unloaded. Pulau Indah — ironically, the name means “beautiful island” in Malay — is one of many towns in Malaysia where illegal plastic recycling factories have popped up in recent months as the Southeast Asian nation became the top choice for plastic waste exporters from around the world. The trigger for this dumping deluge was a Chinese ban on waste imports from the beginning of this year, which disrupted the flow of more than 7mn tonnes of plastic scrap a year. Malaysia quickly became the leading alternative destination, importing nearly half a million tonnes of plastic waste between January and July from just its top 10 source-countries. Dozens of factories have opened up in Malaysia to handle that waste, many without an operating licence, using low-end technology and environmentally harmful methods of disposal. “The situation is getting worse, especially with more and more illegal plastic recycling factories,” Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysia’s minister of energy, technology, science, climate change and environment, told parliament last week. Used plastic is recycled into pellets, which are then used to manufacture other plastic products, but the process comes with pollution risks. Plastic unsuitable for recycling is burnt, which releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere. Or it ends up in landfill, potentially contaminating soil and water sources. Yeo said she does not want Malaysia to be the “trash can” for developed nations, but Housing Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, who oversees the waste management department, told Reuters that the government also does not want to miss out on a business that could be worth billions. Both ministers are members of a government committee studying its options for dealing with the growing pile of plastic waste. In the Pulau Indah industrial zone, Reuters reporters saw nearly a dozen recycling plants, many of them without signboards or company names, though government data shows only two factories in that area have a licence to import plastic waste. One of the bigger ones, Jingye Manufacturing Sdn Bhd, was shut down in August for not having a licence, according to an official notice seen by Reuters. But workers in the factory and others nearby say it reopened within weeks, and when Reuters reporters visited earlier this month, it was operating. Plastic waste was stacked up within the premises and all along the road. The factory supervisor declined comment. Company records show Jingye was set up in Malaysia in October 2017, three months after China said it would ban imports of foreign waste from 2018. Reuters could not reach the owners of the factory and no contact details were listed in records. One worker in the industrial zone, who did not want to be identified, said there were as many as eight illegal factories in the zone and many openly burned plastic that cannot be recycled. “Every night they burn. I see black smoke at night, so I go over and ask him ‘why are you trying to kill me?’ They ignore me,” he said. In the nearby district of Kuala Langat, authorities found 41 factories operating illegally, many of them run by Chinese companies, according to Housing Minister Zuraida. Around 30 were shut down by authorities in the last three months after residents complained of open burning of plastic and health complications. It is unclear how the illegal factories are sourcing plastic waste. Zuraida said some of the 95 companies that have a permit to import and recycle such waste are subcontracting to illegal factories as they lack the capacity to handle such volumes. Malaysia’s imports of plastic waste from its 10 biggest source-countries jumped to 456,000 tonnes between January and July, versus 316,600 tonnes purchased in all of 2017 and 168,500 tonnes in 2016. The United States, the world’s top exporter of plastic waste, sent 178,238 tonnes of such waste to Malaysia between January and July, nearly twice as much as it sent to second top destination, Thailand, according to the United Nations’ trade database and the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries. Britain, another big plastic waste exporter, sends a quarter of its waste to Malaysia, also more than any other country. Environment Minister Yeo estimated that the plastic recycling industry would earn Malaysia 3.5bn ringgit ($841.95mn) this year. Zuraida said she planned to introduce new rules soon that will make it harder for factories to qualify for an import licence. “I understand plastic recycling is quite lucrative. So I am also thinking should we miss this economic opportunity? This is something the committee will study,” Zuraida told Reuters. If such an option is pursued, Malaysia would do so on strict terms, require high-end, green technology and allow factories to operate only in heavy industrial areas, she said. The factories are currently located haphazardly, including near or within residential areas. In Kuala Langat, southwest of Kuala Lumpur, a massive recycling factory nestled between palm plantations was shut down three months ago. But 3m tall towers of plastic waste — mostly consumer packaging material from the United States, Britain, France, Netherlands, Germany and Australia — were still piled in the front yard. A large plot of land next to the factory has been turned into a dumping site for scrap.

The Maldives’ top court yesterday ended weeks of uncertainty by rejecting President Abdulla Yameen’s controversial bid to annul last month’s election results, upholding his landslide defeat to an opposition candidate. The five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously ruled that Yameen had failed to prove his claim that the election was rigged and a fresh poll was necessary in the Indian Ocean archipelago. Under international pressure, Yameen initially conceded defeat after Ibrahim Mohamed Solih emerged the winner in the September 23 poll. But the strongman ruler then filed an appeal this month, throwing the island nation into turmoil and attracting warnings from the United States and regional superpower India to respect the outcome. Opposition activists celebrated outside the Supreme Court in the capital Male after the decision was read out, effectively drawing a line under Yameen’s five years of iron- fisted rule. Opposition legislator Mariya Didi said Yameen - who lobbied the Supreme Court in 2013 to nullify election results in his favour - should now allow a smooth transition of power. “We are pleased that the court ruled unanimously to uphold the will of the people,” Didi said on Twitter. “The case was based on conjecture and conspiracy theories.” Yameen claimed magic ink had been used to rig the election and that votes marked for him disappeared inside ballot boxes. The country’s independent Elections Commission, through its lawyers, had argued his petition was based on false allegations and should be dismissed. The Supreme Court bench last week refused to accept the testimony of three unnamed witnesses that Yameen’s lawyers said would prove the election was fixed. The next day Yameen went on national television to concede defeat a second time, making no reference to his controversial legal bid. “This is my final address to the nation before I leave,” said the 59-year-old, whose term in office ends on November 17. “During my tenure, the most difficult thing for me was my failure to learn about the people. I just couldn’t find out what shapes their wishes.” Ahead of court hearings in the capital Male last week, the United States warned “appropriate measures” would be taken if the will of the Maldivian people was undermined. Europe and India have also issued similar warnings in the past. The situation was similar to 2013, when Yameen convinced the Supreme Court to nullify the first round of voting, which he was trailing to opposition candidate Mohamed Nasheed. A subsequent vote was then twice delayed, allowing Yameen time to forge alliances that helped him narrowly win a contested run-off. He has ruled with an iron fist ever since, crushing dissent and jailing or exiling all his major opponents. In February, Yameen jailed the chief justice and another Supreme Court judge after accusing them of trying to topple him. Yameen had initially suspended the court, parliament and the constitution and declared a state of emergency when legislators were about to impeach him. Since his election defeat, several high-profile political prisoners including his estranged half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the Maldives for 30 years until 2008, have been released from jail. The US and its allies have been concerned by growing Chinese influence in the strategically positioned Indian Ocean archipelago, especially under Yameen’s authoritarian rule.

Allegedly aimed at busting visa abusers and illegal migrants, a Thai police operation called “X-Ray Outlaw Foreigner” has raised questions about racial profiling and fears for asylum-seekers caught in its web. Tens of millions of tourists come to Thailand each year for the cheap living and postcard-perfect beaches, with some seeking out the seedier thrills. But as weak law enforcement, porous borders and corruption help make the country a hub for transnational crime, Thai authorities are intensifying Operation X-Ray - a programme that started about a year ago - with more than 1,000 people arrested in recent weeks, most for overstaying their visa. Although the vast majority caught in the dragnet are migrants from nearby countries, the racial overtones of the campaign have sparked concerns about profiling based on skin colour. “Our job is to classify who are the good dark-skinned people and who are the ones likely to commit crimes,” said immigration bureau chief Surachate Hakparn. He told AFP that the operation was aimed at weeding out visa overstayers and nabbing criminals - especially “romance scammers” who lure lonely locals online to defraud them of cash. He insisted that the romance scammers are often Nigerian or Ugandan. At the start of one night time operation witnessed by AFP in Bangkok’s rowdy Nana district earlier this month, about 75 Thai police officers stood in rows at a briefing. “The suspicious targets are the dark-skinned people,” shouted an officer. “First, we search their bodies, then we search their passports.” Soon they began stopping suspects, including three people from Mali who were tested for drugs on the spot. By 11:55pm, almost 30 individuals - about half of whom were black - had been rounded up. Only one was Caucasian, a Frenchman caught smoking marijuana. Surachate’s staff said details on the breakdown of nationalities  was “confidential”. But in the first two weeks of October, police arrested a Korean citizen wanted by Interpol for sexual assault, and busted a team of four Nigerians and 16 Thais allegedly involved in romance scams, according to authorities. They also found a Laos national who had overstayed his visa by more than 11 years. Thailand’s reputation as a place to disappear and reinvent yourself combined with lax visa rules can be a headache for law enforcement. The junta that seized power in 2014 justified its power grab by promising stability amid street protests and political upheaval. But rights groups warn that refugees and asylum seekers who transit through Bangkok en route to a third country for resettlement are also being ensnared in the latest police operation as they lack legal protections. According to rough estimates from the non-profit Fortify Rights, there are about 100 adults and 30 children who fit this description, mainly from Pakistan but also from Syria and Somalia. “Thailand’s immigration crackdown has swept up refugees and asylum seekers, sent young children into horrid, prison-like conditions, and appears to have clear aspects of racial profiling against South Asians and Africans,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. Thailand is not a party to the UN convention recognising refugees and made headlines in 2015 for deporting more than 100 Uighurs back to China. More than 70 Pakistani Christians were rounded up and detained this month by police under charges of illegal entry and overstay even though they were assumed to be in transit and escaping religious persecution in their Muslim-majority homeland. But the authorities remain unapologetic. According to immigration chief Surachate’s count, Thailand is home to more than 6,000 people who ought to have left the country already. “In order to clean house, we need to bring in the good people and deport the bad people so that the country will have sustained stability,” he said.

The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, wedged between India and China, voted in a national election yesterday guaranteed to usher in a new ruling party which must boost the economy without compromising the country’s fierce independent streak.   The country of 800,000 people, famed for its Gross National Happiness index, is holding only its third democratic election since the ending of the absolute monarchy in 2008.  The capital’s streets were mainly empty as authorities declared a holiday for the election. Many voters looked forward to seeing a new government tackling problems including Bhutan’s large foreign debt, mainly owed to India.   “We expect a new broom to sweep well,” said engineer Gopal Chettri after voting in the capital Thimphu. “It is a country with a limited budget so what can you say. Whatever party wins has to cope with it.”  Results of the runoff vote — to be announced tomorrow — could see a government formed by a party only registered in 2013. Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) narrowly led the first round of voting on September 15 with 92,722 votes, just ahead of the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), which won Bhutan’s first election in 2008, on 90,020.  Harvard-educated prime minister Tshering Tobgay conceded defeat after his ruling party slumped to third place.  The rivals have vowed to bolster the economy and health system and improve government transparency. Corruption, rural poverty, youth unemployment and criminal gangs are all problems for the “Land of the Thunder Dragon.”  The key will be making money from the country’s hydro-electric power, which is mainly exported to India. The DPT wants more hydro-power construction while the DNT is more wary of increasing Bhutan’s foreign debt.   Hydropower financing — which comes to more than $1.5bn — accounts for more than 80% of Bhutan’s foreign debt. Most is owed to India, which has financed four out of five of the kingdom’s new hydro-electric projects. Bhutan has tried to shield itself from the downsides of globalisation, striving for “Gross National Happiness” over GDP growth, maintaining a carbon-negative economy and keeping tourist numbers down with a daily fee of $250 per visitor in high season. While Bhutan is proud of its cultural and political independence and has diplomatic relations with barely 50 countries, it knows it will have to open up.  Foreign policy is kept out of the election campaign however even though during the 2013 campaign — fearing that Bhutan was moving too close to China — India withdrew subsidies for kerosene and cooking gas imports, in what was seen as an attempt to coerce a change of government.   Relations with India remain sensitive. At least five candidates and activists were fined up to two month’s wages for sending instant messenger statements to groups on relations with India, the Bhutan election commission said. Last year India and China became embroiled in a military standoff over the Doklam plateau claimed by China and Bhutan, and which sits on a strategic corner where the three countries meet. India, which has a military presence in Bhutan, stepped in to prevent Chinese border guards from building a road there.   Even though Bhutan does not have diplomatic ties with China, its giant neighbour is the third biggest source of imported goods and wealthy Chinese tourists are a valuable new source of income.  Many in Bhutan feel the country should rely less on India and give China and others a chance to help boost the economy and create new jobs. “Bhutan should make friends with other countries,” said taxi driver Kinzang Dorji. An elderly Bhutanese man is helped by his son after casting his vote at a polling station in Thimpu.

Two Myanmar fighter pilots were killed in separate crashes due to heavy fog yesterday, officials said, with the debris from one of the planes killing a young girl in her home. Poor visibility caused one F-7 jet to fly into a telecommunications tower near Magway air force base more than 500km northwest of Yangon, an air force official said. “He had no time to eject,” said the official, who did not want to be named. A 10-year-old girl, who was studying at home, was hit by a piece of the plane after it struck the tower, lawmaker Kyaw Swan Yee from nearby Min Buu town said. “She died after arriving at hospital,” he said. In the other incident - which occurred just 16km away - the pilot managed to eject from his plane but was killed when he hit the ground according to the  official. The pilots were named as Captain Hein Thu Aung and Captain Phyo Maung Maung, both in their thirties. Magway’s chief minister and a delegation of lawmakers paid their respects to the girl’s family, Kyaw Swan Yee said. The crashes are the latest aviation catastrophes to blight the country’s air force. In April, an F-7 pilot died after his jet crashed due to a technical failure. In June last year, a Chinese-built Shaanxi Y8 carrying military personnel and their families plunged into the Andaman sea after taking off, killing 122 people,  15 of whom were children. The F-7 is a Cold War-era fighter jet - a Chinese made variant of the Soviet Union’s  MiG-21.

The United States is alarmed by China’s increasingly muscular military presence and “predatory economic practices” towards smaller countries in Asia, defence chief James Mattis has said on his way to the region. Speaking as he flew out for a diplomatic tour that will take him to Vietnam and Singapore, the US Defence Secretary said Washington was not trying to hold back its Pacific rival.  “Obviously, we’re not out to contain China,” he told reporters. “We’d have taken an altogether different stance had that been considered.”  “We’re two large powers, or two Pacific powers, two economic powers. There’s going to be times we step on each other’s toes, so we’re going to have to find a way to productively manage our relationship,” he said. But he highlighted key sticking points with Beijing, remarking that the same issues have also rattled some of China’s neighbours. “We remain highly concerned with continued militarisation of features in the South China Sea,” Mattis said on a flight to Ho Chi Minh City, the former capital of the US-backed southern regime. China claims nearly all of the South China Sea - building a growing roster of military installations on reefs and artificial islands there - even though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of strategic waterway.  Washington regularly conducts freedom of navigation exercises in the sea and earlier this month US defence officials said a Chinese warship sailed within yards of an American destroyer forcing it to change course.  Mattis also singled out what he described as “predatory economic behaviour” by Beijing “where massive debt is piled on countries that fiscal analysis would say they are going to have difficulty, at best, repaying in the smaller countries”. Sri Lanka famously gave Beijing a 99-year lease to a deep sea port after it was unable to pay back Chinese loans for the $1.4bn project. Mattis’s visit comes amid escalating tensions between the two superpowers over trade, Beijing’s growing military might and allegations by the US that China is interfering in the American electoral process. His visit to China scheduled for later this month was cancelled because of those tensions.  Trump has levied billions of dollars in tariffs on Chinese imports as he presses Beijing to change restrictive trade practices that he says unfairly hurt American businesses, prompting fears of a shock to the global trade system.  Vietnam is eager to bolster military ties with the United States amid its ongoing dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, which Hanoi says it has historic rights to.  In March Vietnam hosted a US aircraft carrier in Danang in what analysts said was a clear show of strength and a veiled message to Beijing.  This is Mattis’s second trip to Vietnam this year after a visit to Hanoi in January, and the defence chief is slated to go to a former US air base as part of a dioxin remediation programme.

Malaysia’s leader in waiting Anwar Ibrahim returned to parliament as a lawmaker yesterday, and vowed to give former nemesis Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad space to get on with running the country. MPs applauded as Anwar took the oath of office following his weekend local election victory, a sight that would have been unthinkable just months ago when he was an opposition leader languishing behind bars.  The former deputy premier’s remarkable political resurrection was triggered by his alliance’s shock election victory in May, which toppled a corruption-riddled coalition that had ruled Malaysia for six decades.  Following the triumph, Anwar was pardoned and released from jail, where he had been imprisoned since 2015 on widely criticised sodomy charges, and is now the presumptive successor to the country’s leadership.  Mahathir, 93, has pledged to hand power to Anwar within two years. The deal was struck when the pair, whose up-and-down relationship has long loomed over Malaysian politics, formed an unlikely alliance to take on the government of Najib Razak. Anwar needed to be elected as an MP again to succeed Mahathir, and he cruised to a thumping victory in Saturday’s poll in Port Dickson, where his opponents included a former aide whose sodomy accusations landed him in jail.  It is the first time that Mahathir —  who, during a first stint as premier, sacked Anwar and had him thrown in jail —   and his former foe have been in the same government since the 1990s.  Anwar, wearing a traditional black cap, brushed aside questions about when he will become premier, and insisted he would let Mahathir have “the space, the latitude” to get on with governing.  “That’s very important because some of the decisions that have to be made by the prime minister and the cabinet are key, fundamental decisions of policy,” the 71-year-old told reporters.  He also insisted he would not take up a cabinet position. After their fallout, Anwar became a prominent opposition leader at the head of a reformist alliance. But Mahathir himself turned on the party he once headed as corruption allegations mounted against Najib, and later teamed up with Anwar.  Since his defeat, Najib has been charged over the alleged plundering of state fund 1MDB. He denies any wrongdoing.

Anwar Ibrahim won an overwhelming mandate in a parliamentary by-election yesterday, officials said, setting the stage for his return to frontline Malaysian politics and sealing the once-jailed opposition figure’s remarkable resurrection. Figures released by the Election Commission showed he got more than 71% of the total votes cast in a seven-way contest which included a former aide who lodged the abuse charges that landed Anwar in prison for a second time in 2014. “I am happy with the results,” Anwar said after the victory, which marks the charismatic politician’s stunning political comeback from prison to parliament. Winning the seat was a key requirement for Anwar to succeed 93-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed, who jailed his former protege and heir apparent abuse and corruption charges in 1998 when their relationship soured. Mahathir returned to the premiership this year after a shock election win, saying he would stay in power for only two years before handing the reins to Anwar. Anwar was in prison when he forged an unlikely alliance with Mahathir in a bid to unseat then-prime minister Najib Razak, who had called elections for May amid massive corruption allegations. Underscoring the drama of yesterday’s vote, one of Anwar’s six challengers is the ex-aide who had accused him of abuse. Polls opened under cloudy skies at 8am (0000 GMT) and closed nine and a half hours later in the sleepy southern coastal town of Port Dickson, home to a sizeable ethnic Chinese community that has traditionally been one of Anwar’s pillars of support. “We are voting for the next premier. We need an influential leader to bring long-overdue progress to Port Dickson,” said 60-year-old voter Lee Tian Hock. “This morning, I prayed for a big win for Anwar,” retired truck driver Mat Taib, a member of the country’s ethnic Malay majority, said. “I want him to be our eighth prime minister.” About 100 supporters greeted Anwar with shouts of “Reformasi” - his battle cry while in opposition - as he arrived at a polling station. There had been little doubt the reformist politician would win the seat, which was vacated after a member of the ruling coalition stepped down to pave the way for Anwar’s return. But he campaigned hard to secure the multi-racial constituency, promising voters development, clean government and a boost to local tourism. Anwar did not discuss the sodomy accusations on the campaign trail. He has always maintained the charges were trumped up to derail his political career. But he has campaigned doggedly on the multi-billion-dollar graft scandal at state fund 1MDB, which led to dozens of corruption charges against former leader Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor. Both face the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in jail in a scandal that saw Najib’s coalition lose office for the first time since the country declared independence from Britain in 1957. Political heavyweights including Mahathir have campaigned for Anwar during a comeback that was unthinkable even six months ago. The duo went onstage together at one campaign event, prompting wild cheers from supporters. After he was dumped as finance minister and jailed in the 1990s, Anwar led a reformist opposition movement while fighting to overturn his convictions. Mahathir, his mentor turned tormentor and now ally, came back from retirement to lead the Alliance of Hope coalition that won power in May.

Malaysia has decided to abolish the death penalty, a senior minister said yesterday, with more than 1,200 people on death row set to win a reprieve following a groundswell of opposition to capital punishment. Executions are currently mandatory for murder, kidnapping, possession of firearms and drug trafficking, among other crimes, and is carried out by hanging — a legacy of British colonial rule.  Human Rights Watch hailed the “fabulous news”, with its deputy director for Asia Phil Robertson saying the move would increase pressure on other countries in the region to follow suit. The government decided to scrap capital punishment because the Malaysian public had shown they were against the death penalty, communications and multimedia minister Gobind Singh Deo Gobind said. “I hope the law will be amended soon,” he told AFP.  Government minister Liew Vui Keong reportedly said earlier yesterday there would be a moratorium on executions for inmates currently on death row. “Since we are abolishing the sentence, all executions should not be carried out,” the Star newspaper quoted him as saying.  Liew said the amended law would be put before parliament next Monday.  The government’s announcement was “an encouraging sign”, Amnesty International’s Kumi Naidoo said in a statement. “There is no time to waste – the death penalty should have been consigned to the history books long ago.”  The moratorium on the death penalty affects, among others, two women accused of assassinating the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last year. A Malaysian court last year ruled the case could proceed against Indonesian national Siti Aisyah and Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam after Kim Jong-nam’s murder at Kuala Lumpur Airport.  Australian citizen Maria Elvira Pinto Exposto, 54, who was found guilty of drug smuggling by an appeals court in May, will win a reprieve.  “The reprieve can be in the form of a life sentence,” Gurdial Singh, president of the National Human Rights Society, told AFP.  Two Chilean tourists, currently on trial for the murder of a Malaysian man, would also have faced the death penalty if found guilty of murder.  The abolition could also pave the way for the extradition to Malaysia of a convicted hitman in the high profile murder of a Mongolian model who was the lover of one of ex-prime minister Najib Razak’s close associates. Former Malaysian police officer Sirul Azhar Umar was convicted in Malaysia for the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu in 2006, but fled to Australia.  Australia has said it can only extradite him if Malaysia abolished the death penalty. In April last year, Amnesty International ranked Malaysia 10th in the use of death penalty among the 23 countries that carried out capital punishment in 2016. Between 2007 and 2017, 35 individuals were hanged, the New Straits Times newspaper said. A total of 1,267 prisoners are on death row, making up 2.7% of the 60,000-strong prison population. Malaysian rights advocates welcomed the decision, saying there was never any proof that mandatory death sentences deterred offenders from violent or drug-related crimes. “The death penalty is barbarous, and unimaginably cruel,” N Surendran, an adviser with the Lawyers for Liberty rights group, said in a statement.  Once capital punishment is scrapped, Malaysia will have the moral authority to fight for the lives of Malaysians facing death sentences abroad, he added. Only 23 countries retain the death penalty, with China believed to be the “world’s top executioner”, according to Amnesty International in its report last month on capital punishment in 2017.  There were 993 executions recorded in 2017 in 23 countries, but Amnesty’s numbers do not include the “thousands” it says are believed to have been executed in China, which classifies this information as a state secret. Excluding China, Amnesty says Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Pakistan — in that order — carried out 84% of all executions in 2017. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand have death penalty laws.

Myanmar police yesterday arrested three journalists after their paper criticised the financial management of Yangon’s government, which is overseen by a protege of leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in the latest case to spark concern over press freedom. Rights groups criticised the detention of the three from Eleven Media, which comes as the latest in a long series of cases brought against the media under vague and outdated laws. Executive editors Kyaw Zaw Lin and Nayi Min and chief reporter Phyo Wai Win were hauled in before a Yangon court in handcuffs yesterday morning to hear the charges against them before being carted off  to jail. Defence lawyer Kyee Myint said the case was filed over an article published on Monday about the funding behind the city’s bus network, a scheme run by Yangon chief minister and Suu Kyi confidant Phyo Min Thein. “All three of them were sent to Insein prison this morning after a case was filed against them  under section 505(b),” defence  lawyer Kyee Myint said. The trio could be fined and jailed for up to two years if a court rules that their story was published with intent to cause – or was likely to cause – “fear or alarm to the public”. Their arrest is an “affront to press freedom” and a sign the government is “close to becoming an authoritarian regime,” Ravi R. Prasad from the Vienna-based International Press  Institute said. “The whole media industry is under threat,” said Hlaing Thit Zin Wai, founder of the Protection Committee for Myanmar Journalists.  “I even have a bag packed at home as we cannot predict when it will be our turn,” he added. The arrests came just a few weeks after the sentencing of two Reuters journalists to seven years in jail at the end of what was widely seen as a sham trial, during which a police officer testified that they had been set up. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, had been investigating the extrajudicial killing of Rohingya men during a violent military crackdown last year against the stateless minority. Civilian leader Suu Kyi – a figure once lionised by the international community for her commitment to human rights – has caught ire over the jailing, with the UN blasting Myanmar for waging “a political campaign against independent  journalism”. In an interview with Japanese news outlet NHK published on Tuesday, Suu Kyi said “there is a lot of press freedom in Myanmar”, and suggested that those criticising her government “study what the press is doing from day to day in the country”. It is not the first time Eleven Media Group has been targeted by the authorities. In November 2016, the paper’s then editors were jailed over a column that accused a government official of receiving a watch worth $100,000 from a businessman who later won plum contracts. Yangon authorities said they were unable to comment on the latest charges at this stage. The next hearing will be on October 17.

Maldives strongman President Abdulla Yameen filed a legal challenge yesterday against his recent landslide election defeat despite international pressure for him to go quietly. Yameen, whose main political rivals were either in jail or in exile for the September 23 vote but was unexpectedly beaten by a unity opposition candidate, had already conceded defeat. But lawyers for Yameen’s Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) told reporters that they are alleging the poll was rigged by the independent election commission in a challenge filed with the Supreme Court. “We reviewed the numerous complaints filed by President Yameen’s supporters before deciding to file this challenge,” Yameen’s lead lawyer Mohamed Saleem said. “So in light of that, President Yameen decided that the challenge must be filed for the rights of his supporters,” he added. It was however unclear whether the Indian Ocean archipelago nation’s Supreme Court would agree to consider the challenge and the opposition expressed hope that it would be thrown out. The election in the honeymoon paradise, which has seen a tussle for influence between India and China, was won by Ibrahim Mohamed Solih with 58.4% of the vote. Solih was little known before the election but was backed, in a remarkable turn of events given the Maldives’ turbulent recent political history, by all opposition parties. The United States and the European Union had threatened sanctions if the vote was not free and fair and if Yameen, 59, who has borrowed heavily from China for infrastructure projects, did not accept the result. Yameen had reluctantly said he would leave office in November but he has been publicly urging his supporters to challenge the results. Constitutionally, he can remain in office till November 17 when he has to hand over to Solih, barring any last minute court intervention. Hamid Abdul Ghafoor, spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said the challenge was “an attempt by Yameen to create unrest” but that the Supreme Court would likely throw it out. “Since the elections results were released, he has tried to get people to protest outside the Election Commission and was unable to get more than 25 to 30 people,” said Ghafoor, who like much of the opposition is based in nearby Sri Lanka. “By going to court, he is trying to create an issue and get people to join his protests,” he said. “Given the fact that the transition is going on smoothly and the international community has accepted the verdict of the people, we don’t think the courts will entertain this petition to overturn the results.” Last week, former Maldives leader Mohamed Nasheed announced he would return home two years after going into exile. He was barred from contesting the election won by his party’s nominee Solih, who defeated Yameen despite what critics said was a biased media and a rigged system. Nasheed was the country’s first democratically elected president but was sentenced to 13 years in prison for terrorism in 2015, in a trial the UN said was politically motivated.