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Maldives President takes office, promises reforms
Male, Nov 11: President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was sworn in for a record sixth term today, becoming the longest-serving head of state in Asia.
Male, Nov 11: President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was sworn in for a record sixth term today, becoming the longest-serving head of state in Asia.
Gayoom, a former professor of Islamic studies, has ruled the Maldives with an iron fist since he first assumed
the Presidency in 1978.
Last month, Gayoom, 65, won an unprecedented sixth five-year term in a referendum. He was the only candidate on the ballot, and secured 90.28 percent of the 113,992 votes polled.
Gayoom was sworn-in by chief justice Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, and later addressed the 50-member Parliament, promising to introduce reforms.
“Over the next five years, my administration will bring about changes to the judiciary, the executive and the powers of the Parliament,'' Gayoom said without elaborating.
He also pledged to set up a human rights commission in the wake of recent widespread riots in capital Male.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International accused the Maldives government in September of ``endemic torture and unfair trials,'' and blamed pre-vote rioting on a culture of repression.
Riots broke out in male on Sept. 17, after two prisoners were killed by security forces when inmates protested alleged torture by authorities. Two other inmates later died from injuries, and 25 prisoners were injured.
Bureau Report
Last month, Gayoom, 65, won an unprecedented sixth five-year term in a referendum. He was the only candidate on the ballot, and secured 90.28 percent of the 113,992 votes polled.
Gayoom was sworn-in by chief justice Mohamed Rasheed Ibrahim, and later addressed the 50-member Parliament, promising to introduce reforms.
“Over the next five years, my administration will bring about changes to the judiciary, the executive and the powers of the Parliament,'' Gayoom said without elaborating.
He also pledged to set up a human rights commission in the wake of recent widespread riots in capital Male.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International accused the Maldives government in September of ``endemic torture and unfair trials,'' and blamed pre-vote rioting on a culture of repression.
Riots broke out in male on Sept. 17, after two prisoners were killed by security forces when inmates protested alleged torture by authorities. Two other inmates later died from injuries, and 25 prisoners were injured.
Bureau Report