Amal Clooney's work in supporting ex-Maldives president Nasheed

carolhathaway wrote:My husband took my last name.
What does that say about us?

That's really cool carolhathaway. I've never known anyone who did that.
Can you share with us why he made that decision?

Before we go way off track here just want to say if the Daily Fail reporting is accurate this story regarding Blair will be really embarrassing for her to say the least.
Any other media outlet in the UK picking up this story?

Carol that is cool he took your name.

In Germany you have various possibilities about your last name when you get married:
You can choose one of the last name's as the name for both, everyone can keep his last name, or one of them (but not both of them) can combine both names.
Most women choose the husband's last name as their new name, that's the traditionel choice. My husband's last name was the German version of 'Miller' which is the most common name, and my husband had always been embarrassed of how many others had the same name. And I also wasn't pleased to have this name. A combination of both our last names just sounded odd, and we wanted to share the same last name to show that we belong together. We also wanted to have children, and it's always difficult here to say: "I'm the mother but have a different name." You always have to explain it.

And so it was my husband's choice to take my last name. His parents weren't too excited about that...

starlove wrote:

Amos said that Nasheed’s lawyer Amal Clooney was not providing accurate information on the real situation in Maldives. And that no one should make up stories and besmirch the image of the country


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WOW ,i guess MN back is okay too ,just another lie!

Omg Amal make white lies and exaggerat. Not good many say she do and now found out to public.

Ah! So Nasheed doesn't have a bad back? Do you believe, Starlove and Alisonfan that the present government took Amal's word that Nasheed had a bad back which needed treatment in the UK and let him go there without getting him checked out, tests and x-rays etc to see if this was true. Wow! Clever Amal and not very clever government, eh? 

I don't believe a word of it!

The fact that any and all of these "human rights" advocates can argue all sides of a situation with equal passion because "everyone deserves a competent defense" is the reason I can't stand lawyers. They can twist the truth into a pretzel and not feel a twinge of conscience. A pox on all their houses!

The whole thing is bull they knew he had a bad back that is why the let him go.  I don't believe for a minute that Amal and her firm would  risk their reputations. That government is corrupt and still trying to save face so they continue to lie what good it does them I don't know.

confused again.... thought he was on leave for surgery- but then had to return to jail.

Hebe wrote:Ah! So Nasheed doesn't have a bad back? Do you believe, Starlove and Alisonfan that the present government took Amal's word that Nasheed had a bad back which needed treatment in the UK and let him go there without getting him checked out, tests and x-rays etc to see if this was true. Wow! Clever Amal and not very clever government, eh? 

I don't believe a word of it!

It's also possible that there was an agreement with the government of the Maldives. You know the 'not losing faces' thing and diplomatic agreement governments need...

PigPen wrote:confused again.... thought he was on  leave for surgery- but then had to return to jail.

That's what the story was PigPen.  However, he goes on a PR junket, states "I don't know if I'm going back", now asking for more time...  Also, George even said "my wife got a man out of jail".  By the way, even tho I put quotes in, they are not direct quotes.

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According to this article his doctors in the Maldives suggested the surgery and that is why he went to London. It is also stated that if he needs to extend his stay it will be granted.

Hebe wrote:Ah! So Nasheed doesn't have a bad back? Do you believe, Starlove and Alisonfan that the present government took Amal's word that Nasheed had a bad back which needed treatment in the UK and let him go there without getting him checked out, tests and x-rays etc to see if this was true. Wow! Clever Amal and not very clever government, eh? 

I don't believe a word of it!

You miss read Amal inaccurate about Situation in Maldives.bad back not there or here.but to upset whole economy is worst.bad of Amal to tell inaccurate tale is lie not white lie.but you read not right look again to please be Hebe?

President Nasheed was at the Royal Institute for International Relations yesterday
and said he intends to go back to the Maldives because he believes are happy that he left and therefore there is no viable opposition i e no democracy.

He also said this:

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If you read the article above it states that his doctors suggested surgery and he does have a bad back. So Amal did  not lie the government knows his back is bad and will let him stay if he needs to extend his care.

Amal, Jared Genser and Ben Emerson are highly regarded lawyers in international human rights law.  I do not believe that they would use underhanded tactics and outright lies to defend their client.  

If the future of the Maldives is in jeopardy the blame should be placed on the corrupt government currently in power.  Not Nasheed (who was illegally imprisoned) and his legal team.

someone define "extended"..........does it mean months( as in time for a second opinion then surgery and recovery), or years (as in " they don't have the right mattress to support my back in prison- then Amal the humanitarian could really go into high gear saying soft mattresses could cause permanent injury to his back- .LOLOLOLOLOLOLLOL.

Depends on how he responds to treatment I would think. He has said he will be returning and the government will let him stay for treatment.

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British Parliamentary Group: No sanctions necessary for Maldives

February 18, 2016 - 16 hours 56 minutes ago

All-Party British-Maldives Parliamentary Group (APPG) has said that no sanctions were necessary against Maldives, and that it would be the common people who would suffer any such sanction.

Delegates from APPG are currently in Maldives to access the political situation in the country, and have met with high-ranking government officials as well as officials from opposition parties.

Speaking during a press conference held at Mookai Suites on Thursday, Chairman of APPG and Conservative Party representative for British Parliament David Amos said that they visited Maafushi Prison and found no issues with the place former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed is kept imprisoned in.

“We went to see the cell former President Mohamed Nasheed is kept imprisoned in. In our opinion, Nasheed is being kept in a very comfortable place compared to all the prisons we have visited in UK. It has a swing, a TV, and a quite comfortable bed. Nasheed was treated well when he was kept imprisoned,” said Amos.

APPG said that government was taking detrimental steps to improve the country’s economy.
And that everyone needed to support the government to execute the changes.

Amos said that Nasheed’s lawyer Amal Clooney was not providing accurate information on the real situation in Maldives. And that no one should make up stories and besmirch the image of the country.

I think that is how many of us felt ! ....."Lawyer Amal Clooney was not providing accurate information on the REAL situation in the Maldives. And that NO ONE should MAKE UP stories and BESMIRCH the image of the Country"....

Oh, sweet baby Jesus....How I wish she had not taken George's surname....

But his Star shines brighter than any of his women past and present, and their various transgressions, imagined or as above real.....

This too shall pass George, and one day make a belting, gut busting story.....As only you can.... 

Well now, take a look at this......

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Their trip it would seem was wholely funded by the present President and their guide was the president's daughter...........

PAN,
that's a very interesting article.
I never understand why politicians sometimes act so insensitive - or doesn't it matter to them?

If the Independent article is accurate how can anyone think these men can have an unbiased point of view considering who paid for their trip to the Maldives and courted them during their visit?

Nasheed's prison cell is not an issue in this case.  And who is to say that the Maldives government didn't spiffy up his cell to make it look like Nasheed was being well cared for.  Even if he did have a "nice" cell it's the charges against Nasheed and his conviction which are at issue.

So we will see in due time who is making up stories.

      I like the emoticon you used  , looks like Alicia and Jason on the Good Wife .     He he heeeee

I'm sorry but these opinions are far from unbiased , pretty much paid for by the President of the Maldives.

annemarie wrote:I'm sorry but these opinions are far from unbiased , pretty much paid for by the President of the Maldives.

Of course their opinions are unbiased. A politician is always incorruptible and unimpressed by every treatment or money given to them.
 
By the way: Did Amal, anybody from her team or Nasheed ever complain the conditions of Nasheed's imprisonment i.e. his cell or his prison like it was mentioned again? I re-read the whole thread, and it was mentioned on page 2 that Amal had never complained about this. So to mention that Nasheed's cell is much better than British prisoners cells is just unneccessary (if the cell the MPs were shown is actually his cell and hasn't been changed since he left).
Of course they want to show how good they treat their prisoners - or at least one special prisoner -  especially when they know that this prisoner has a lot of international and powerful Support.

amaretti wrote:      I like the emoticon you used  , looks like Alicia and Jason on the Good Wife .     He he heeeee

By the way amaretti I know what you mean as a fellow Good Wife fan! But that discussion is for another thread.

Amal still called out to be not as a honest or upright person. She may to work to hard to get win! Shame for it to show her up as she speaks on to public TV.No hiding place if showed up again like this.Out of own mouth.

According to BBC news ex president Nasheed has been given refugee status in the UK.

at George and Amal's home?? Don't laugh, could happen!!!!!!!!!!

Article from the New York Times

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For anyone interested President Yameen continues to crack down on his opponents ....

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Very interesting activity for a man with a very bad back per his attorney...   It wouldn't copy the video, so go on the site to see the video.


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Watch ex-president of the Maldives enjoying a spot of office CHAIR racing at the Hay Festival

• Mohamed Nasheed was among guests enjoying a party on the last night 
  
• Politician, who was leader from 2008 to 2012, hurtled by on a swivel chair  
  
• He was knocked out when an opponent clattered into him at the finish line
  
• A DJ said he later showed off 'epic dancing' and had 'stamina and style' 
  

By Ekin Karasin For Mailonline
Published: 18:45 EST, 7 June 2016  | Updated: 18:53 EST, 7 June 2016









Dressed in a smart black suit, this is the moment a shouting former president flew down a corridor in a raucous game of chair racing.
Mohamed Nasheed, the former leader of the Maldives, was among guests enjoying Sunday night's staff party at the Hay Festival in Wales.
A video showed the animated 49-year-old yelling to go faster as he hurtled by on a swivel chair - before being knocked out of the race as another opponent smashed into him.


Former Maldives president enjoys a chair race at Hay Festival





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This is the moment Mohamed Nasheed, the former leader of the Maldives, flew down a corridor in a raucous game of chair racing
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A video showed the animated 49-year-old yelling to go faster as he hurtled by on a swivel chair at the Hay festival in Wales
Footage, which emerged on social media, show Nasheed being pushed forward at quite a speed.
The laughing politician appears caught up in the excitement as he clings to the seat of the chair with both hands.
Nasheed, who was president from 2008 to 2012, gestures with his hand and yells as a rival races ahead of him.
He speeds down the green-carpeted hallway and seems about to take the lead, before another opponent clatters into the back of his chair near the finishing line.

Guy Davies, who runs Hereford's Temple Records, was one of the DJs booked into the event.
He said: 'It was the wildest gig ever.
'To see a Presidential member of the Maldives winning a chair race by a clear mile - to then be knocked from glory by a late finisher seemed like some bizarre joke, but he showed some epic dancing, proving he had a lot of stamina and style.'
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The laughing politician appeared caught up in the excitement as he clung to the seat of the chair with both hands
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Nasheed, who was president from 2008 to 2012, gestured with his hand and yelled as a rival racef ahead of him

Nasheed was at the festival to speak about the Arab Spring.
The father-of-two is no stranger to a stunt, and held an underwater cabinet meeting in 2009 to highlight the dangers of climate change to the Maldives.
Nasheed and his cabinet spent half an hour on the sea bed, communicating with white boards and hand signals, as they called for cuts to carbon emissions.
He became the Indian Ocean nation's first democratically elected leader in 2008, but was deposed in what he has described as a military coup.
After losing power, Mr Nasheed was jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges before he was granted temporary release from prison to fly to Britain for surgery.
The human right's lawyer, Amal Clooney, was among those to greet him at Heathrow Airport.

Are you surprised? Maybe it's a miracle!! The care he got in the UK was so good that he's cured forever! How wonderful!!!

 Not buying it? How about a more cynical take?: He lied. His lawyer lied. Everyone lied.

Take your pick.

Well, I don't know if that's true. Backs are funny things. Look at George! He gets into fights on film and is permanently putting his back out and then having to get treatment - the recent story of the game on the basketball court and a slipped disc...

Could we be too quick to judge when we don't necessarily have all the information?

Well..... how about maybe he had his treatment or operation.  What kind of treatment or operation he may have had we have no clue.  The press wasn't at the hospital to document it.  If he didn't have surgery and had some kind of rehab maybe he is better.  We don't know and no one else here knows either.  Quick to judgement with no facts to back it up.  And he's sitting in the chair the whole time.  Doesn't look very physical to me at all.  I have friends with bad backs.  They could easily do this.

But let's say some of you are right.  And his lawyers used what they could to get Nasheed out of the Maldives ..... knowing he wasn't going to go back.
I don't know this.  Neither do any of you.  A big if. But if he had gone back he would go straight back to prison.  Did anyone read the recent article I posted about what happened to the Vice President there?  Nasheed should somehow be a martyr for his country?  The government is corrupt there.  If he got another appeal how would he get a fair trial?  He didn't get a fair trial the first time. That's how Amal ended up being his lawyer. There are those here who are so ready and able to criticize Amal. Without all the facts. But judgments are made. Negative ones. Time and time again. This time for supposedly not being truthful about her team's handling of this case. And completely disregarding the real villain in this case ... the Maldives government.

LizzyNY wrote:Are you surprised? Maybe it's a miracle!! The care he got in the UK was so good that he's cured forever! How wonderful!!!

 Not buying it? How about a more cynical take?: He lied. His lawyer lied. Everyone lied.

Take your pick.

if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.......................................

I read on here that the doctors in the Maldives said he needed surgery so it wasn't made up.  The government wouldn't have released him if  their doctors hadn't said it was necessary. We here have no idea what he had done or what other options he was given.

Since when is it a crime to have a sense of the absurd? I didn't mention Amal's name in my post because I wasn't thinking of her, per se. I was expressing my disgust with the legal system as a whole and the people who manipulate it for their own ends - leaving ethics and morals dead on the floor.

Was Nasheed's trial rigged? Yes. Was his sentence politically motivated? Yes. Would he have, at the minimum, been returned to prison if he returned? Yes. - However - He agreed to return after his surgery. He gave his word. Now he's staying in the UK. IMO, neither side gets a gold star for honesty. They're all gaming the system and as far as I can tell you can't trust any of them as far as you can throw an elephant!

Really Lizzy?  You wrote "His lawyer lied".   You did not write the legal system.  The only lawyer who is discussed here as representing Nasheed is Amal.
No sense of the absurd.  

Ethics and morals?  Well it is quite evident that they are lacking in the President and the government of the Maldives.  Nasheed competing in a chair racing contest proves absolutely nothing.  His decision not to return to the Maldives to be sent back to prison was made between him and his lawyers. And who knows ... maybe even the Maldives government knew as much too.

But it's a pretty righteous comment to claim he should have gone back because he gave his word.  Knowing what he was going back to?  To finish out a 13 year sentence? From a sham trial.   Without a fair chance of another appeal?   Personally I never really thought he would go back.  Nasheed's legal team defended their client quite successfully.  Meanwhile back in the Maldives those who speak out against the government continue to be arrested and sentenced .....

No one other than Mr. Nasheed his lawyers and his family know the whole story. We have bits of the story none of which shows anyone lied. His back was bad his doctor's said so and he went to London for treatment. What that treatment is or was no one knows.

Frankly, I don't think the Maldives government is too sad he didn't come back.  I think they were hoping he would stay gone why would they want him back they don't want the publicity and attention that he brings.

We here don't know that the Maldives government is too sad that he didn't come back.  We here don't know if they were hoping he would stay gone.  We here don't know they don't want the publicity and attention that he brings.

DM - Excuse me for not adding an "s". Amal may be the public face of Nasheed's team but  she is not his only lawyer. She may be the only one you choose to discuss, but she isn't the only one representing him.

My point was that neither side of this situation can wear a halo. The Maldivian government is probably corrupt and Nasheed's trial was almost certainly unfair in all respects. Going back would subject him to an unpleasant, possibly dangerous situation. I'm sure he doesn't want to go, and I don't blame him. But he and his legal team knew that when they promised he would return after treatment. And I'm willing to bet the Maldivian government never expected him to come back.

The thing is, (at least in this country) all participants in a trial are expected to tell the truth. There are oaths taken by judges and attorneys. Witnesses swear "to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth" when they take the stand. What good is a legal system where nobody does what they say or says what they mean? If all sides don't follow the rules and stand by their word then the whole system becomes untrustworthy.

Your premise seems to be that because the trial was corrupt it's ok for Nasheed and his lawyers to go back on their word that he would return. IMO, two wrongs don't make a right.

Let's take into account this man's family what would him being in prison do to them. Why should they suffer  because of a corrupt government. 

It as you said Lizzy the government didn't expect him to come back so they let him go. It is a win for all he is out of their hair and they can continue as before.

I don't know of anyone who would go back to prison because they made a promise especially when they were rail roadded into prison.


e , I can't see anyone just because

annemarie - The families of all prisoners suffer, whether the person was fairly or unfairly imprisoned. Whether the situation in the Maldives worked out well for all concerned isn't the point. The point is that both sides misused the legal system - they said one thing and did another. How does that lead to confidence that the legal system can operate in a fair and impartial manner?

You have no proof they misused the legal system , have you talked to his doctors or lawyers. Better yet have you spoken to the man himself.   You are assuming not everything is cut and dry especially in matters like this.

I do believe his family was important I think they probably played a big role in his decision. Why would anyone put their families through the suffering if they don't have too.

It is easy to sit in our nice safe homes and say what he should have done none of us know what he went through in prison it is not a fun place.

We don't know as annemarie said above the details and what went on behind the scenes of this case. We know very little.  The conclusion that everyone lied is a rush to judgment.  

Personally I do think it is very acceptable that Nasheed decided not to go back simply because of the corruption that still exists in the Maldives. And the odds of Nasheed getting a retrial may have been quite slim.  So he should serve out 13 years for what?  Because it was the honorable thing to do?  To lose valuable years with his family?

The more I think about it the more I think the Maldives wanted to rid themselves of this man.  Too much negative publicity because of the case.  But that's just my opinion.  I'm not willing to condemn the work that Nasheed's legal team did to represent and eventually free him.  

There is no comparison to our legal system and the Maldives.  First and foremost the Maldives government is totally untrustworthy.  So the bar for justice is set at a much lower level to begin with.

Forget about whether anyone lied. We'll never agree on the ethics of the legal profession or the idea that the ends justify the means. IMO. they don't.

Your insistence that Nasheed is justified in staying in the UK because returning to the Maldives would have meant returning to jail and hardship for his family bothers me. You can't just ignore the law because you think the system is corrupt. Lots of people think OUR legal system is corrupt. When they ignore the law we call them criminals and lock them up. Are we wrong?

NOBODY wants to go to jail and many people in jail feel they're there unfairly. What about them? If they get a lawyer who's good at playing the system, should they be released? Or is that kind of treatment only reserved for the rich and well connected?

Or is that kind of treatment only reserved for the rich and well connected?

Welcome to the real world, my dear.  Where the poor go to jail and the rich are never guilty- but "victims" themselves of unjust treatment and accusations. Phewwy!!




And I don't just mean Amal and her team...  check out the bullshit going on in Connecticut where a college student brutally raped an unconscious woman behind a dumpster.  His mother begged that he not be sentenced to jai as it would kill him/he'd never survive the ordeal.  Oh yeh- this bastard's father described the rape as "20 minutes of action"

So for those (including George's father) who believe Amal is  brilliant ... at what,, beating the system??

Oops  off topic.

Gosh, Pigpen, I'm impressed that you seem very sure about all this

Do you mean that you think Amal, Jared Genser and Nasheed's legal team completely hoodwinked and misled the British prime minister, the UK government, the American Secretary of State, the Sri Lanka Government, the Indian government, the UN and many other members of state from the free world?