Top S. Korea court orders Japanese firm to pay out over forced labour

Yahoo – AFP, 29 November 2018

Kim Sung-joo (in orange), a victim of forced labour by Japan, cheered in
reaction to the court decision

South Korea's top court on Thursday ordered a Japanese heavy industries giant to pay compensation over forced wartime labour -- the latest in a series of decisions to strain ties between the two neighbours.

South Korea and Japan are both democracies and US allies faced with an increasingly assertive neighbour China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.

But their own ties have remained icy for years by bitter disputes over history and territory stemming from Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, with forced labour and wartime sexual slavery key examples.

According to official Seoul data, around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during the 35-year occupation, not including the women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops.

Among those forced to work at the factories for Japanese firms, six survivors filed a lawsuit against The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2000 seeking compensation.

Seoul's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that the firm should pay each of the plaintiffs unpaid wages or compensation worth about 80 million won ($71,197).

The same court, in a ruling on a similar, separate case on Thursday, also ordered Mitsubishi to pay compensation of 100 million to 150 million won to a group of five people for forced wartime labour at its plants.

Many said they had been tricked by their Japanese teachers at elementary schools into going to Japan to "study" but were instead forced to work at Mitsubishi plants producing aircrafts with no or little pay for years.

Both of the two groups filed lawsuits in Seoul after Japanese courts had dismissed their claims seeking compensation.

Japan says the victims' right to sue had been extinguished by the 1965 treaty which saw Seoul and Tokyo restore diplomatic ties and included a reparation package of about $800 million in grants and cheap loans.

But recent court rulings in Seoul -- including Thursday's rulings -- argued that the forced labour for Japanese firms was not included in the controversial treaty.

The Supreme Court late last month ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay compensations worth 100 million won to four people over forced labour during World War II -- a decision that drew anger from Tokyo.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono slammed the latest rulings he described "extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable" and demand that Seoul take "immediate actions to remedy such breach of international law."

"Above all, the decisions completely overthrow the legal foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship that Japan and... Korea have developed since the normalisation of diplomatic relations in 1965," Kono said in a statement.

UN grants sanctions exemption for Korea railway survey

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2018

The two Koreas have agreed to start surveys on reconnecting railways across
the border between North and South

The UN Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly conduct a survey on reconnecting railways across their border, a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said Saturday.

The two Koreas last month agreed to start the survey no later than late October and to hold the groundbreaking ceremony sometime between late November and early December, as the countries pursue a reconciliation drive.

But the possibility of the project running up against UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programmes has caused delays.

"It is significant that this project has received support from the United States and international community", said Kim Eui-Gyeom, spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Railway experts from both sides will criss-cross the country on survey trains together, Kim said in a statement, adding that the process will "bring inter-Korean cooperation to a new level".

Yonhap news agency said the South was expected to bring fuel for train locomotives, and other unspecified materials for the survey in the North.

Delivering fuel to North Korea could potentially have been in breach of a UN cap limiting imports to 500,000 barrels a year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday any inter-Korean rapprochement had to move forward "in tandem" with efforts to denuclearise the peninsula, and could not come sooner.

US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore earlier this year, signing a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation.

But since then, talks on denuclearisation have stalled, with meetings either deemed unproductive, pushed back or cancelled altogether.

The US and South Korea have launched a working group to make sure that they don't "talk past each other", Pompeo said, as Seoul and Pyongyang appear to be moving ahead with their rapprochement more quickly than Washington and the North are making headway on nuclear disarmament.

A second leaders' summit is expected to take place in early 2019, according to Washington.

In the meantime, North and South Korea have made several concrete decisions on reconciliation and exchanges.

But the implementation of cross-border projects such as the reconnection of railways have been hamstrung by the lack of progress in denuclearisation talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader
Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Seoul earmarks more than $260 mn for rail, roads in North

Two Koreas connect DMZ road across border: Seoul

Yahoo – AFP, 22 November 2018

Pictures handed out by Seoul's defence ministry Thursday showed a South Korean
soldier and a North Korean counterpart taking part in the "recent" roadworks
holding their hands out toward each other, with their colleagues watching

North and South Korea have connected a road across their shared border for the first time in 14 years, Seoul's defence ministry said Thursday in the latest reconciliation gesture between the neighbours.

The dirt road, which is wholly within the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, will be used for joint operations next year to recover remains from the 1950-53 Korean War.

The 12-metre-wide construction of the route in Cheorwon, near the mid-point of the DMZ, is one of several steps agreed at the Pyongyang summit between the South's President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un in September.

The neighbours also pledged to remove bunkers and weapons from the border truce village of Panmunjom.

But Seoul and Washington are pursuing increasingly different approaches to the nuclear-armed North.

The dovish Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with his isolated neighbour, while the US insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises.

Pictures handed out by Seoul's defence ministry Thursday showed a South Korean soldier and a North Korean counterpart taking part in the "recent" roadworks holding their hands out toward each other, with their colleagues watching.

"It is historically significant for the North and the South to open a new passage and jointly engage in operations to recover remains of war dead at the place which saw the worst battles during the war," the ministry said.

Despite its name the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

US Secretary of Mike Pompeo stressed this week that Washington wants to "make sure that peace on the peninsula and the denuclearisation of North Korea aren't lagging behind the increase in the amount of inter-relationship between the two Koreas".

Police called on diplomats as APEC summit tensions boil over

Yahoo – AFP, November 18, 2018

Tensions have been high at the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea after a
spat between the United States and China (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS)

Police were called when Chinese officials attempted to "barge" into the office of Papua New Guinea's foreign minister, it emerged Sunday, as APEC summit tensions boiled over.

The Chinese delegates "tried to barge in" to Rimbink Pato's Port Moresby office Saturday, in an eleventh-hour bid to influence a summit draft communique, but were denied entry, three sources with knowledge of the situation told AFP.

"Police were posted outside the minister's office after they tried to barge in," one source privy to summit negotiations told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The diplomatic incident came with tensions already high at a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders that has been overshadowed by a spat between the United States and China.

Pato had refused to meet with the delegates, according to a source, who said: "It's not appropriate for the minister to negotiate solo with the Chinese. The Chinese negotiating officials know this."

The minister himself sought to downplay the incident, telling AFP: "There wasn't an issue."

Asked about the incident, Chinese foreign ministry official Zhang Xiaolong told reporters: "It's not true. It's simply not true".

APEC nations usually agree a joint statement but officials are struggling to bridge deep divides on trade policy and admit that a formal communique may not be issued.

This is not the first time Chinese officials have been involved in a tense incident at a regional meeting.

At the Pacific Islands Forum in September, Nauru's president demanded China apologise after its delegation walked out of a meeting when the host refused to let an envoy speak until island leaders had finished.

"They're not our friends. They just need us for their own purposes," President Baron Waqa said at the time.

Map of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, locating main venues for the APEC summit @AFPgraphics pic.twitter.com/OZEEvW5ba9

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 18, 2018

RSF honours female Asian journalists for courage under fire

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 8, 2018

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been
killed so far in 2018, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi,
according to RSF (AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

Two Asian women won Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards on Thursday for their bravery in holding governments to account in the face of persistent threats.

Indian freelance reporter Swati Chaturvedi and Filipina social media campaigner Inday Espina-Varona were honoured at the RSF annual awards, being staged in London for the first time.

Maltese journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, who has carried on the work of his mother Daphne, murdered for exposing corruption on the Mediterranean island, was also honoured at the ceremony at the Getty Images Gallery.

Established in 1985 to defend and promote press freedom, Paris-based RSF has been presenting its yearly awards since 1992.

Previous winners include the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Chaturvedi won the Prize for Courage, awarded for journalism in a hostile environment.

She has faced online harassment campaigns after exposing what she calls a "troll army" operating for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I get a dozen death threats every day and around 15 to 20 rape threats," she told AFP.

"The whole idea of a democracy is that you are allowed to have a dissenting view.

"Unfortunately, the way politics has panned out across the world, journalists are really under threat.

"It is sad that you are called courageous just for doing your job."

Sexist attacks

Veteran journalist Espina-Varona founded a social media women's rights campaign in response to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's comments on women.

"After a particularly hard-hitting column, I find 50 to 80 private messages calling me a liar, an ugly woman, and mostly these are sexist attacks," she told AFP.

"The slurs don't really bother me but the threats that say 'we know where you live, we'll see if you are as brave as you think' -- that bothers me because it also happens to other journalists."

She won the Prize for Independence, awarded to reporters for resisting pressure in carrying out their work.

"Independence is very important for citizen journalism. I teach young people to be critical minded and I hope this award will inspire them," she said.

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been killed so far in 2018, RSF said, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

A total of 55 journalists were killed in the whole of 2017.

Caruana Galizia won the Prize for Impact, awarded for work that has led to an increase in awareness of journalistic freedom.

His mother, Malta's pioneering anti-corruption blogger, was assassinated in a car bomb attack in October 2017.

'Fight for the right thing'

"It's a recognition that what we're fighting for is right," he said of the award.

"It's about continuing to fight for the right thing: justice for my mother and for her stories. Everything else will follow.

"Hope is a word for people who have already given up."

He said Malta could and should become a functional European Union democracy that did not have to rely on investigative journalism as the last remaining line of defence.

However, "its toxicity will spread" throughout the EU if partners including Britain and France did not join the fight.

Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder remains unresolved.

Ninety percent of violent crimes against journalists go unpunished, said RSF.

Afghanistan is currently the world's deadliest country for journalists, with 14 killed this year.

"The alarming number of deaths is a reminder of the urgent need to provide journalists with more protection," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

Some 168 journalists, 150 citizen journalists and 19 media assistants are in jail, the organisation said.

RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index ranks the worst five countries for journalists as China, Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea, which came last at 180th.

Pakistan PM Khan calls for calm as protests erupt after blasphemy verdict

Yahoo – AFP, Gohar ABBAS, October 31, 2018

Asia Bibi (left) pictured alongside former governor of Punjab Salman Taseer who
was later assassinated for supporting Christian minorities (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out at religious hardliners and appealed for calm Wednesday after extremists called for the country's Supreme Court justices to be murdered for overturning the conviction of a Christian woman facing execution for blasphemy.

Khan, who took to the nation's airwaves several hours after the court ordered the acquittal of Asia Bibi, delivered a forceful call for Pakistanis to respect the verdict which sparked protests across the country.

"They are inciting you for their own political gain, you should not get trapped by them for the sake of the country, they are doing no service to Islam," Khan said in a televised broadcast.

"We will protect people's properties and lives, we will not allow any sabotage, we will not allow any traffic to be stopped," he added.

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam and its Prophet Mohammed can provoke death at the hands of vigilantes.

Demonstrations broke out in major cities across Pakistan in the ruling's wake, with club-wielding protesters blocking Islamabad's main highway and barricading roads in Karachi and Lahore.

Hardline religious political parties protested the acquittal of Asia Bibi (AFP

Photo/ARIF ALI)

One of the most vocal groups -- the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) -- called for "mutiny" against the army's top brass and the assassination of the top court's justices.

"The Muslim generals of the army, it is their responsibility that they should launch a rebellion against these generals," Afzal Qadri -- a TLP leader -- told supporters in Lahore.

For hours the acquittal was met with near silence on the country's airwaves as broadcasters appeared to steer clear of covering the controversial topic.

Khan, who has previously caused concern with his full-throated defence of blasphemy laws during his recent election campaign, vowed on Wednesday to hit back against hardliners inciting violence, saying the inflammatory rhetoric would only benefit "Pakistan's enemies".

Protection detail?

Bibi was set to be released immediately according to the court, although there was no word if any security arrangements were being made for her protection.

Her legal team celebrated amid beefed-up security in Islamabad.

"The verdict has shown that the poor, the minorities and the lowest segments of society can get justice in this country despite its shortcomings," Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told AFP.

"This is the biggest and happiest day of my life."

Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told AFP 'the verdict has shown that the poor, 

the minorities and the lowest segments of society can get justice in this country 

despite its shortcomings' (AFP Photo/AAMIR QURESHI)

Bibi appeared to be in a state of disbelief after hearing that Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had quashed her conviction nearly eight years after she was first sentenced to death.

"I can't believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?" Bibi told AFP by phone from prison after the ruling.

"I just don't know what to say, I am very happy, I can't believe it."

Her case drew the attention of international rights groups and swiftly became the most high-profile in the country.

Pope Benedict XVI called for her release in 2010, while in 2015 her daughter met his successor and the current head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

Freedom for Bibi in Pakistan, where university students have been lynched and Christians burnt in ovens over blasphemy claims, means a life under threat by hardliners, who regularly hold demonstrations calling for her execution.

The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when Muslim women she was labouring with in a field objected to sharing water with her because she was Christian.

After an argument, the women went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death under colonial-era legislation.

Long-criticised law

During the appeal hearing on October 8, a three-member panel of Supreme Court justices appeared to question the case against her, with Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, considered Pakistan's top expert in criminal law, listing flaws in the proceedings.

Bibi was set to be released immediately according to the court (AFP Photo/ARIF ALI)

"I don't see any derogatory remarks vis-a-vis the holy Koran as per the FIR," added Chief Justice Nisar, referring to the initial complaint filed in the case.

Approximately 40 people are believed to be on death row or serving a life sentence in Pakistan for blasphemy, according to a 2018 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Rights groups have long criticised the legislation, saying it is routinely abused to justify censorship, persecution, and even the murder of minorities.

In recent years, it has also been used to smear dissenters and politicians.

Mere calls to reform the law have provoked violence, most notably the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, by his own bodyguard in broad daylight in Islamabad in 2011.

His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was executed in 2016 and has been feted as a hero by hardliners, who built a shrine to him just outside the capital.

Taseer had also called for Bibi's release and his son Shahbaz tweeted "Pakistan Zindabad" ("Long live Pakistan") following the ruling.

Qatar easing of exit visa system comes into force

Yahoo – AFP, David HARDING, Oct 28, 2018

Foreign labourers leave the construction site of the Al-Wakrah stadium in
Doha, Qatar, after finishing work on May 4, 2015 (AFP Photo/
MARWAN NAAMANI)

Doha (AFP) - Long-awaited reform of Qatar's controversial exit visa system, which requires foreign workers to obtain their bosses' permission to leave the country, came into force on Sunday, the government said.

"Law No. 13 of 2018... regulating the entry, exit and residency of expatriates is being implemented starting today," the interior ministry announced on Twitter.

Qatar announced in September it had approved legislation to scrap the visa system -- a lynchpin of the country's "kafala", or sponsorship, system which many liken to modern-day slavery.

Under the new law, all but five percent of a company's workforce -- reportedly those in the most senior positions -- can leave without prior permission from employers.

Those not allowed to leave Qatar "for any reason" can file a complaint to the Expatriate Exit Grievance Committee that will "take a decision within three working days", the ministry said.

Some anxious workers took to government social media websites on Sunday, to ask how they could find out if they were among the five per cent.

Qatar's labour minister, Issa al-Nuaimi, said he was "exceptionally pleased" with the implementation of the new law.

"We are proud that the state of Qatar has become an example and a model for labour reform in the region," he told AFP.

Nuaimi added that Qatar wanted to give workers in the country, the "best standards possible".

Scrapping the exit permit is the biggest announcement made so far since Qatar agreed last November to enter into a three-year agreement with the UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) to oversee reform.

The ILO's Houtan Homayounpour, head of the labour agency's project office in Doha, said on Twitter that the reform "will have a direct and positive impact on the lives of migrant workers".

The football World Cup 2022 host has come under intense pressure to reform its labour laws, which have been repeatedly denounced by human rights groups.

Critics have long argued for abolition of the exit visa system.

Research published last year by rights group Migrant-Rights.org found around a quarter of all exit visa requests were denied by the government.

Vani Saraswathi, associate editor and director of projects with Migrant-Rights.org, said the reform was "long overdue and welcome", but added a warning.

"We have to be cautious about celebrating it as a huge development," she said.

"Passport confiscation is still rampant and the law also allows for employers to hold passports with the workers' permission."

She also noted that the law does not cover domestic workers, often seen as the most vulnerable.

Rights groups have argued that without the proper safeguards, relaxation of the visa system could lead to unscrupulous employers holding workers' passports.

A study earlier this year by Qatar University's Social and Economic Survey Research found that 53 per cent of migrant workers said their bosses held their passports.

There are some two million foreign workers in Qatar.

Two Koreas agree to withdraw some border guard posts

Channel NewsAsia – AFP, 26 Oct 2018

North and South Korea have agreed to withdraw all troops and weaponry
from 11 guard posts along the border AFP/JUNG Yeon-Je

SEOUL: The two Koreas on Friday (Oct 26) agreed to remove 11 guard posts along the heavily-fortified border next month with a goal to possibly remove all of them in the future, senior military officials said.

The agreement made between generals from the two sides came as diplomatic thaw between the former wartime foes gathered pace.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un previously agreed on a broad plan to ease tensions along the border during their third summit in Pyongyang last month.

During Friday's talks aimed at fleshing out details, the two sides agreed to withdraw all troops and weaponry from the 11 guard posts along the border and destroy them by the end of November, according to a joint statement released by Seoul's military.

"The two sides also agreed to hold working-level talks to remove all remaining GPs based on the progress of the test removal of 11 GPs," it said after the talks held at the border truce village of Panmunjom.

Panmunjom - or the Joint Security Area (JSA) - is the only spot along the tense, 250-kilometre frontier where soldiers from the two Koreas and the US-led UN Command stand face to face.

But as part of the latest reconciliatory gesture, the two Koreas on Thursday removed all firearms and guard posts from the area, leaving it manned by 35 unarmed personnel from each side.

The two nations technically remain at war after the 1950-53 Korean War that sealed the division of the peninsula ended with a ceasefire instead of a peace treaty.

But ties improved markedly this year as Moon - a dove who advocates dialogue with the isolated, nuclear-armed North - and Kim took a series of reconciliatory gestures.

The two sides also finished removing landmines at the JSA - which has been increasingly used for talks between the two Koreas - last week as part of the deal between Kim and Moon.

Iraq’s new finance minister was a refugee in the Netherlands

DutchNews, October 25, 2018

Hussein being interviewed on Kurdish media network Kudaw 

Iraq’s new finance minister Fuad Hussein was a refugee in the Netherlands for years before returning to his homeland in 2003, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday. 

Hussein, who is 69, fled Iraq in the 1970s and settled in the Netherlands. He studied at the VU University in Amsterdam, married a Dutch woman and worked for refugee rights. He is also a fluent Dutch speaker, the broadcaster said. 

Fourteen of the 22 ministerial candidates appointed by new prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi were approved by parliament on Wednesday evening. 

Hussein, who failed in his bid to become president at the beginning of this month, represents the Kurdish Democratic Party.

'We failed them': Australia apologises to child sex abuse victims

Channel News Asia  - AFP , 22 Oct 2018

Child sex abuse survivors attended Parliament House to hear the apology.
(Photo: AFP/Sean Davey)

CANBERRA: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a national apology to victims of child sex abuse in an emotional address to parliament Monday (Oct 22) acknowledging the state failed to stop "evil dark crimes" committed over decades.

"This was done by Australians to Australians, enemies in our midst, enemies in our midst," Morrison told parliament in a nationally televised address.

"As a nation, we failed them, we forsook them, and that will always be our shame," he said, his voice cracking as he recounted abuse that permeated religious and state-backed institutions.

Decrying abuse that happened "day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, decade after decade" in schools, churches, youth groups, scout groups, orphanages, sports clubs and family homes, Morrison declared a new national credo in the face of allegations: "We believe you."

"Today, we say sorry, to the children we failed. Sorry. To the parents whose trust was betrayed and who have struggled to pick up the pieces. Sorry. To the whistleblowers, who we did not listen to. Sorry.

"To the spouses, partners, wives, husbands, children, who have dealt with the consequences of the abuse, cover-ups and obstruction. Sorry. To generations past and present. Sorry."

The state apology comes after a five-year Royal Commission that detailed more than 15,000 survivors' harrowing child sex abuse claims involving thousands of institutions.

In parliament, lawmakers stood for a moment of silence following the remarks as hundreds of survivors looked on or watched in official events across the country.

Normal parliamentary business, a session of prime minister's questions, was suspended in a bipartisan show of respect.

Outside the parliamentary chamber, relatives of victims wore tags with the names of departed daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, for whom the apology came too late.

After meeting some of the victims, Morrison told journalists "I've never felt such pain in one room, ever."

A series of Australian institutions have already apologised for their failings, including Australian Catholic leaders who have lamented the church's "shameful" history of child abuse and cover-ups.

According to the Royal Commission, seven percent of Catholic priests in Australia were accused of abuse between 1950 and 2010, but the allegations were rarely investigated, with child victims ignored and even punished.

Some senior members of the church in Australia have been prosecuted in relation to the abuse.

POWER OF APOLOGY

The Australian government has previously issued formal apologies for the mistreatment of Aboriginal Australians, for forced adoptions and homosexual convictions.

There are growing calls for an apology for the military's treatment of gay, bisexual and transgender personnel.

For many Australians there will still be questions about how the child sex abuse and cover-ups took place.

And for some of the victims, the government's atonement rings hollow - a step short of removing public funding for offending institutions, or far-ranging legal reforms.

At an event attended by the leaders of both major political parties, protesters shouted demands that the government do more to punish the guilty and dig into the past of other institutions like the military.

"Today's apology to victims of institutional child abuse highlights the power of a public apology to heal past wounds," said Professor Noah Riseman of the Australian Catholic University.

"But in the midst of today's acknowledgement there was a reminder that other victims of institutional trauma remain unacknowledged." 

Maldives strongman's election defeat upheld by Supreme Court

Yahoo – AFP, Amal JAYASINGHE, October 21, 2018

A petition to annul last month's election results by Maldives President Abdulla
Yameen has been rejected by the country's Supreme Court (AFP Photo/Ahmed SHURAU)

Colombo (AFP) - The Maldives' top court Sunday ended weeks of uncertainty by rejecting strongman 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 in the September 23 poll.

But he 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.

Yameen claimed magic ink had been used to rig the election and that votes marked for him disappeared inside ballot boxes.

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.

"After weeks of uncertainty, the Maldivian people can finally enjoy clarity regarding the outcome of the election," said President-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who swept September's poll in an unexpected landslide victory.

"The petition to annul the election was frivolous from the start, and spoke more about an inability in some quarters to accept defeat, than any genuine concerns about the vote."

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."

The country's independent Elections Commission, through its lawyers, had argued his petition was based on false allegations and should be dismissed.

Fresh uncertainty

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.