Abdulla Hameed

Abdulla Hameed (1939 – 18 August 2015) was a Maldivian politician. He was the Minister of Atolls during the administration of his brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Hameed was the Speaker of the Majlis until 2004. Hameed died on 18 August 2015 in Bangalore while receiving treatment for heart failure. His family had said that Hameed’s health has been deteriorating for some time, particularly after the death of his wife on 1 July 2013. He was given a state funeral with a seven gun salute. The national flag was flown on half mast for three days following his death.

1982 speech

On 26 July 1982, at a celebration of Maldivian Independence Day, Hameed gave a public speech in which he claimed that Minicoy Island was part of the Maldives.[1] Hameed was the Minister of Atolls at the time and his speech was interpreted as an official claim over the island. The speech caused a minor diplomatic crisis between India and the Maldives, because the two countries had agreed to a maritime boundary treaty whereby Minicoy was placed on the Indian side of the boundary.[2] President Gayoom hurriedly clarified that Hameed's speech was intended to highlight the linguistic, cultural, and religious ties between the Maldives and Minicoy and that the Maldives was not intending to make a political claim over the atoll.[1]

Sought on corruption charges

In September 2011, the Criminal Court of the Maldives ordered the police to summon Hameed to the Maldives to face charges of corruption stemming from his time in public office.[3] The order was a follow-up to the April 2011 request of the Court for the police to locate Hameed, who as of 2011 was believed to reside in Sri Lanka.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 Ramesh Trivedi (2007). India's Relations with her Neighbours (Isha Books, ISBN 978-81-8205-438-7) p. 177.
  2. ↑ "India–Maldives: Agreement between India and the Maldives on Maritime Boundary in the Arabian Sea and Related Matters", in Jonathan I. Charney and Lewis M. Alexander (eds., 1998). International Maritime Boundaries (Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, ISBN 978-90-411-0345-1) pp. 1389–1399.
  3. ↑ Ahmed Naish, "Criminal Court orders police to summon former Atolls Minister Abdulla Hameed", Minivan News, 2011-09-13
  4. ↑ Ahmed Nazeer, , Minivan News, 2011-04-11.
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