Here comes the story of Ismail Faiz (PH) Maldives:: Dhivehi Observer

Special Report
Here comes the story of PH - the Maldives internet guru

16th May 2005

Here comes the story of PH
"Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world."
Bob Dylan, Hurricane
Here comes the story of Ismail Faiz (PH), the man the authorities came to blame, for something he never did. They are blaming him for designing, uploading and maintaining the website Dhivehi Observer (DO) which is a site that is highly critical of the regime in the Maldives.
The authorities have been keeping PH, Dhiraagu's DhivehiNet System Administrator and System Engineer in a dark cell believed to be underground in the Police Headquarters since beginning of May. The police first said he was arrested on theft charges. Later, Mohamed Hussain Shareef (Mundhoodh), the Deputy to Chief Government Spokesperson Dr Ahmed Shaheed, told Associated Press (AP) that PH was arrested because of suspected links with an Islamic radical group planning terrorist activities in the Maldives.
The inconsistency in what police said earlier and what the deputy spokesperson said led many people to believe that the regime was cooking up charges against PH. A few hours after Mundhoodh's interview, the Strategic Communications Unit of the President's Office, where Dr Shaheed and Mundhoodh works, asked AP to pull out the story because there was 'a confusion' in giving information to AP and it was not correct.
This was a blunder a person working in giving information to media should not have made. AP is one of the major news agencies of the world and the news it dispatches are published in hundreds of newspapers, magazines and websites across the world. To tell AP to pull out a story because 'we were confused and gave wrong information' is like becoming the laughingstock of the world media.
But Mundhoodh did it purposefully. It is hard to believe that Mundhoodh could have got the case of PH mixed with that of Ibrahim Asif, another man arrested by the authorities for alleged involvement in a terrorism plot. A personal feud between PH and Mundhoodh, dating back to a few years, only adds weight to the suspicion that the deputy spokesman was deliberately trying to tarnish the image of PH. Perhaps he was hoping that after giving the information to a news agency like AP the government will try to stick to their story and frame PH for terrorism.
A few years back Nabeel, the son of former health minister and current information minister, provided an Internet service called Speedcast, in association with a Hong Kong company. As the only licensed ISP at the time was Dhiraagu, Nabeel was asked to provide the service in collaboration with Dhiraagu. Speedcast customers in Maldives could obtain high speed in downloading through Speedcast but for uploads they had to use Dhiraagu's DhivehiNet. Nabeel was able to get the permission for this arrangement because of his father's influence in the regime. For an ordinary businessman without connections this permit would not have been given.
Speedcast was not popular with the general public because of the high prices. But Nabeel was able to make a handsome profit from the business because his father pulled strings and health ministry and IGMH subscribed for the service. As Nabeel was a senior official of STO it is believed that even STO subscribed. Nabeel was counting on several other government offices to subscribe because of his father's influence.
There were some technical problems with the Speedcast service in the Maldives and on one occasion Mundhoodh mentioned to Nabeel that it must be PH who was Dhiraagu DhivehiNet System Administrator who was causing this. Mundhoodh said PH was a very shady character and he must be deliberately doing this. Nabeel believed the story and called PH about it. As a result PH got very angry and called Mundhoodh and there was a heated argument. PH scolded Mundhoodh for telling the fabricated story. Ever since then, Mundhoodh has been looking for an opportunity to settle the score with PH.
It is not clear why Mundhoodh told Nabeel that it was PH's doing. PH is a very skilled IT professional and he is respected and liked by the most IT people in the country. Even though PH is an outstanding person in his skills he is not pretentious and does not appear to know too much. Even though Mundhoodh does not come from an IT background, he pretends to know all in the IT field. If anybody who is even vaguely linked to the IT community harbours any jealousy towards PH he must be Mundhoodh. The others know that PH is in a league of his own.
PH has been working in Dhiraagu since 1996 and he knows the ISP's internet network like the back of his hand. He is respected and loved by colleagues and he received an award of recognition from Dhiraagu's chairman - an award for the best employee of the year - in March 2005.
After days in detention PH's family was able to meet him and what he told them makes this story even more baffling. He told them he is being detained because of suspected links with the website Dhivehi Observer, which publishes articles critical of the regime.
There are few Maldivians who are not aware that Dhivehi Observer is published by Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa (Sappe) who resides in UK. Even though several Maldivians send articles through email to the website, the site is operating from the UK. It is a big joke to blame PH for administering this website.
This story must have been fabricated by Mundhoodh and he told Dr Shaheed about the 'connection between PH and DO'. Dr Shaheed then told dictator Gayoom who instructed the Police Chief Adam Zahir to arrest PH. When a group of police came to arrest PH in the early morning when he was sleeping they were prepared to break down the door if necessary as overheard by people on the street.
Now the regime must have realized its mistake but the question is will they release PH and face further embarrassment or will they continue to detain him to save their face. PH is a pro-reformist even though he does not participate in the pro-reform activities. He is a model civil servant who spends most of his time serving Dhiraagu, the joint-venture between Cable and Wireless Plc of UK and the government of Maldives.
PH was approached by the authorities on previous occasions to spy for them on the internet activities of reformists and dissidents. They offered PH Rf10,000 per month in addition to the salary he receives from Dhiraagu. PH is not a businessman and neither does he come from a high class family with lots of wealth. To get Rf10,000 per month was a flattering offer but he was a man of conscience and he refused to cooperate.
This is one reason the authorities may not be happy with PH. But it is Mundhoodh's personal jealousy with PH that is causing this young man to be detained in darkness without any sense of time in an underground cell in Police Headquarters.
The IT community has stepped forward in PH's defence. Friends have set up a website (www.freeph.org) and blogs of Maldivians are full with entries calling for the release of PH. Free PH t-shirts are being made and the youngsters in the IT community vow not to stop their activities till PH is freed.
So far the police have not found a single piece of evidence linking PH to Dhivehi Observer. They are examining various sectors of PH's PC's hard disk and his laptop to locate a single byte that will implicate him. Failing to find any they are also planning to hire a foreign professional because they know that their own IT skills cannot even match PH's knowledge. They are searching in vain, but will they release PH?
"All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
And though they could not produce the gun
The DA said he was the one who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed."
So Dr Shaheed. Is that what is going to happen? Are you going to protect your beloved coffee buddy Mundhoodh and defend the honour of your sleazy Strategic Communications Unit and send an innocent man to prison? Are you going to have a pig-circus trial for PH?
"Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers they all went along for the ride
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand ?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game."
Indeed, how can the life of such a man as PH be in the palm of some fool like Mundhoodh's hand? Answer us Dr Shaheed! Don't you feel ashamed of the system that you are protecting and don't you feel ashamed to live here in Maldives where justice is a game?
"Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And give him back the time he's done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world."
PH could have been a champion of the IT world; he could have worked in United States or Europe for better pay and live a better life. But he chose to serve his country and be with his people and this is what he is getting in return. The authorities are making his life a living hell and he sits in a small cell. This is PH's story.
And remember we are willing to go to any length to free him. It won't be over till his name is cleared. Even if it means having a vigil in the Republican Square. Can the authorities afford another crackdown like last year when they are impatient for aid from EU and the rest of the world? Dr Shaheed, will you go on blaming us as Islamic radicals when that happens? Will you say that "being a Friday people just gathered"?
We are free people and we want our friend PH to be free. Is that plain English? We control the servers, we control the information flow, and we have friends across the world. And we can be nasty when necessary.