A Maldivian traumatized from circumcision experience April 28, 2007

Celebrating the mutilation of a human being

By Hilath Rasheed, 8 December 2006, Male’

It was the day after the academic year was over, and while I was walking on Majeedee Magu that evening, a party at a home in full swing reminded me how every time this year, I am treated to this same horror scene if I remain in the capital.

I can’t understand what there is to be happy about, or a reason to celebrate, when a child who is not yet 10 years old, is mutilated, and all his family and friends want to party all night at his, the victim’s, expense.

I remember my own circumcision experience if not vividly quite painfully and it is something that I want no child of mine to ever have to experience.

I must have been around 6 or 7. We had an open air shower, the gifili or valhu kotari, where I was kept on a wooden table. I remember male extended family members all surrounding me, and someone was restraining my legs. My father was just next to me but I am not sure whether he was holding me but he told me that if I “just concentrate on something else, there would be no pain.”

I tried to take his advice, and my mind wandered to the first picnic I had on Kuda Bandos island; it was a special experience because it was the first time I traveled out of the concrete blocks that is Male to a natural island with green vegetation, clear blue water – and my first touch with a red Dhanbaa, my distant cousin who still inhabit the warm shallow waters of our archipelago and have no need to evolve to come onto land.

I don’t exactly remember whether it was painful or not but I was feeling as if I was a wild animal, brought under control, and then mutilated because for some misbehavior that I must have committed that I was yet to understand.

Worse, my father was wearing dark sunglasses, and somehow I could see a certain Hameed (who later worked in the Department of Health) as he performed my circumcision. (I still remember this guy who must now be in his late 40s or early 50s and each sighting of him still causes me pain). The visions I cannot remember in detail: reflected from my father’s sunglasses, I saw tools and hands at work around my genitals. Weird may not be the correct word to describe what I was feeling but let that be adequate for now.

I remember the first time I peed that day: I wasn’t expecting it and therefore, when it came, it was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. I did not want to pee again, and tried to hold back, but had to a few times that day. Reminiscing this pain again as I write this article, I know how much inner strength I have to summon every time I remember how I have now forgiven all the personal “atrocities” my family caused against me due to family, social or religious pressure.

When after a week it was finally over, and they removed the clothing which covered the glans, what a surprise and shock it gave me to finally see an alienish head poking out. I remember that I had great difficulty in coming to terms with this “alien organ” in my body, and even though religious authorities who propagate circumcision claim that the foreskin is removed to lessen sexual stimulation, erotic tendencies and a tendency towards indulging in masturbation, my personal experience is that this experience actually opened my innocent eyes towards the world of sexuality (previously, I thought the function of the penis was only for peeing and nothing else). Of course, physically it won’t now give me the same pleasure as an uncut or intact man because I am circumcised. There are surgeries to restore your foreskin but well, I am now 31, not a teenager any more, so sex is not much of a priority in comparison to company, communication, entertainment and creativity.

Is circumcision a must under Islam?

If you study history, circumcision was a practice practised thousands of years ago by pagans and although Islam explicitly is against acts or culture belonging to the “Jaahiliyyaa Zamaan” (The Age of Darkness or Non-Enlightenment), I am surprised how this got into our culture and why this culture is so highly regarded even among Maldivians.

There is a whole lot of debate going on about this topic in the world, with many websites dedicated to the debate. My own opinion is that if men are born uncut, then that’s the way nature meant it to be, and if we mutilate that, there must at least be an imbalance and upsetting of the natural way of life because our universe is an intricate and balanced system.

According to Mothers Against Circumcision Organisation: “People mistakenly believe the circumcised penis is cleaner. The myth that the penis with a foreskin is difficult to clean is exactly that — a myth. Cleaning is so simple, it’s amazing that people fret so much about it. The big hoopla over hygiene is pure and unnecessary paranoia. There are many benefits to keeping the foreskin intact. Typically, American doctors have limited knowledge in these areas. Many are totally unaware that the foreskin actually requires no special care.

“Quite a number of famous child care experts and doctors recommend against circumcision in their books. Dr. Dean Edell has expressed opposition against infant circumcision for at least 15 years now. Sheila Kitzinger very emphatically recommends that parents leave their sons intact. Dr. Lendon Smith goes into detail explaining the foreskin’s purposes and giving all the reasons why circumcision should not be performed. Dr. Spock, in his most recent book, stated “I feel that there’s no solid medical evidence at this time to support routine circumcision.” He recommends “leaving the foreskin the way Nature meant it to be.”

Some useful resources (cut and paste them in a new window):
http://www.circinfo.org/links.html
http://www.mothersagainstcirc.org/
http://www.circumstitions.com/index.html

Source: Hilath 

We can’t leave the dead resting in peace no more? April 25, 2007

 

 

 

Artwork: Anatomy Lesson, 1969 (oil on canvas), Alonso, Carlos(b.1929) / Private Collection, Alinari / The Bridgeman Art Library)

 

Our thoughts and prayers are with Hussain Salah, and with his family who have lost a loved one and been forced to endure such a terrible loss. The death of Evan Naseem and Salah did bring this nation to a stand still. Unlike the “natural” deaths and deaths that have occurred due to malpractice in our hospitals will be nothing compared with the previous killings of that of Mohammed Ameen. Ameens death and now these recent ones has and will be recorded as one of the worst brutal killings in the history of this tiny island nation.

Let us not forget that it has been a little more than three years only since Eevan was killed in a prison. Let us not forget the ones who are living in such sates where they cant move freely because they have been made disabled due to some ones misdoings. Let us not forget the babies and children who cant run around, play football and enjoy the things which every other kid enjoys.

Apart from all these brutal killings that happened outside the hospital settings, innumerous deaths has occurred which are suspicious of being caused by health professionals negligence or deliberate attempts in trying to hide the truth in our hospitals. This is the all known hidden secret.

In the coming weeks, even more details will emerge about the Salah case and how our weak justice system has allowed him such injustice. Pundits and politicians will offer condolences, caution against hasty action, and try to understand the pathology behind the murder and maybe murderers.

Instead of focusing only on the one incident, we all need to look toward the future and ask:

Can we just leave the dead rest in peace? No..Not untill…

It’s long past time to have a serious national conversation about how we can achieve compensation from misdoings, either from the government, hospitals or others (killers). It’s past time for us to agree that something is wrong when an individual has been inflicted with such obvious signs of brutality and discarded , it is high time to talk about the malpractice that is happening in our hospitals and no such system to deliver proper justice. Something is wrong when people are dying in suspicious circumstances, not only in the capital island Male’ but every other island in this country and nothing being done to find the truth and deliver justice. That is the cause of concern here. Obviously, what we’re doing now is not working.

Some people don’t want to have this conversation. Forget the conversation, some even wish it does’nt even exist and would bury it live if they could. Due to utmost respect for the dead, others say. They’re content to repeat platitudes, make excuses, nitpick proposals, and postpone taking action. They accuse the rest of us of “politicizing” the issue, while they hide behind the veil in utter ignorance.

The comments from President Maumoon, through a spokesman, were:

“If you are going to make accusations then you better be able to back it up, otherwise, shut up. We have attempted on various occasions to remove our politics from the gutter but it is the MDP that drags it back down. I don’t think it is a lack of trust in the state, I think it is the MDP being very happy to blame the government and milking any opportunity to incite public unrest. They saw it as an opportunity to recreate the circumstances of 2004. Accountability is something the government has to face up to, but also the opposition. I think the police should learn some lessons from this. They need to have more witness evidence but maybe we should also address the key issue here – drugs.”

He further says in minivannews that coroners services will inevitably come but,

“how soon we can do that is something I cannot say right now”

Isnt this the ample time to go forward with it? Isnt it their responsibility to deliver it?

It is not “politicizing” the tragedy to ask what we can do to make ourselves and our families safe from these happenings. When politicians and other greedy health professionals deny that a problem exists and that is susceptible to policy making and cling to their ideological mutterings instead of coming to the table with honest ideas, it is they who must stop the political posturing. They have to ask themselves how they can help keep our communities and our homes and our children safe.

We have to insist that we just cant leave the dead to “rest in peace” under these circumstances. No not now.

 

Source:DrMaldives

 

Maldiveshealth recieves Death threats April 23, 2007

It was shocking. Some of the comments recieved was really appalling too. Managing the comments has become a bit of a problem. A conversation (if some want to call it that) has been strarted. Much has been said. Some people even has asked to remove a certain post titled “Example of an autopsy report“.

I am not removing anything.

Maldiveshealth  has recieved death threats.

The author decides to carry on what the author has been doing. That is continue blogging.

A lot of publicity has been given to maldiveshealth and Salah and a failed government and people. In the end most of the comments recieved has no rational thinking behind it.

Shows how frustrated people are from both sides of the spectrum. A rant is a rant in the end. It doesnt give us answers.

The truth is still sleeping in the morgue it seems.

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Simon speaks out on Salah April 22, 2007

Simon lets his opinions flow on the autopsy case.

Comment on autopsy case and concern

It’s a shame, really, this whole fabricated conspiracy surrounding the death of a man. We’ve paraded the photos of the man, gawked at them, printed them and shamelessly vulgarized them. Where has our morality gone? Where is our humanity? Whatever happened to respect for the dead - regardless of whether it was homicide or suicide? It didn’t happen to you or me or one of our own loved ones - so who cares?

Last week we’ve had, what I believe to be, the most disgraceful failure of various systems and departments of this nation. We’ve had the failure of politics, failure of media, failure of law enforcement and the medical services, and worst of all the failure of public opinion and what amounted to be nothing more than a shameful demonstration of public gullibility and fickle mentality. Here we have a public ready to believe anything and everything - now made a danger to itself by the do or die revolutionist propaganda of MDP.

Increasingly, just like the administration in 2003, the general public is becoming trigger happy. We are quick to believe utterly ridiculous fabrications from both government and opposition just so that we can point a finger at either and raise undue concerns. It has become a habit - more so for the leading opposition party who seem to have failed to produce anything close to a road-map of their own for this country. What are we hoping for? A quick fix to the problems of this 28 year old regime?

And while a simple Google search will reveal much more than anyone would hope for about what to expect from a forensics examination of a dead body found in water, opposition media outlets like Minivan and DO have conveniently discarded this information in favor of reporting on hearsay from, what they call are, unknown reliable sources. Whether our poison is DO, FM or Minivan we have to start using our brains and start acting like civilized humans before we can stomp our feet and have our way with the government or the opposition.

And regardless of whether we are pro-regime or not as men and women who will be responsible for the future of this country we should exercise our critical faculties before we act. And where such mental prowess may not be feasible to all then those who do possess it should make it a point to inform and educate before we end up eating ourselves from within.

Ours is a nation dragging along on the tattered remains of a road that we hope will one day lead us to reform but every passing day it is beginning to dawn on us that the real reform must come from within us first. That we need to wake up not only to political enlightenment (and true democracy) but to more pressing matters as home, school and raising responsible citizens.

Today I heard a woman speak at a rally held at the artificial beach about her concerns of the drug problem and how our very own young and adolescent are being systematically forced into addiction by unknown forces who benefit from the underground drug market. It was effective and at the same time informative and wrought with real fears and concerns. This was not reported on popular news media but this is exactly the kind of vox populi we need to bring about real reforms and to tackle real issues facing this nation.

And as terrible as it is that happened to the man this incident should not be remembered as how the death of a young Maldivian brought about a nation to a standstill. No, this incident has to be remembered for its demonstration of our failure as a civilized nation.

 

Example of an Autopsy report April 22, 2007

Hussain Salahs preliminary Autopsy report below and example of another proper autopsy report.

Here is an example of a proper autopsy report . This one is that of Schiavo, the controversial case which kept America talking.

You will se how extensively such a report talks about the body systems and any abnormalities. Lets hope that the final autopsy report of Hussain Salah is a thorough and comprehensive one.

Update on Salah:

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Maldives conducts first-ever autopsy to examine suspicious death of dissident

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: The Maldives has sanctioned the Muslim nation’s first-ever post mortem examination to examine the suspicious death of an opposition activist who was allegedly beaten to death in custody, officials said.

The body of Hussain Salah, which was found floating in Male harbor last Sunday, was sent to neighboring Sri Lanka on Friday for an autopsy on the request of the deceased man’s relatives, Maldives’ chief government spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef said by phone from the capital Male.

Islam requires that a corpse be buried quickly without cutting or disturbing it.

“So far in Maldives, an autopsy has never taken place, partly due to religion — and also there was never such a request,” Shareef said.

The Maldives is a Muslim nation of about 300,000 people on 1,192 coral islands in the Indian Ocean.

“This isn’t without controversy,” Shareef said of the government decision to agree to a post-mortem.

“Already some religious groups and parties have vehemently opposed it,” he said, adding that the government agreed to the family request because it has nothing to hide.

A Sri Lankan foreign ministry official confirmed that the body is in Sri Lanka but declined to give further details.

Mohamed Nasheed, a senior leader of opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, said earlier Salah had died in custody and police attempts to bury his body in a hurry were thwarted by protesters including himself.

But the government says that Salah had died 36 hours after being released from police detention over a narcotics charge.

The government identified Salah as a drug addict who had previous convictions on narcotics and burglary charges.

Source: Maldiveslive

CONFUSION OVER POST MORTEM

The post mortem which was completed today and the report which have been handed over to the Maldives High Commission with strict instructions for the sealed envelope to be opened in the presence of Salah’s family and Maldives Police have been opened without knowledge of the Salah family. The findings were reported by Dr Shaheed who is with Gayoom in Singapore. Speaking from 1560 miles away from Colombo Dr Shaheed say the post mortem has ruled out “violence” as the cause of death. There is a toxicology report waiting to find the exact time of death.

People are already asking for an explanation on the marks found on his legs and face. As the family was later asked to accept a copy of the report they have rejected it stating foul play.

 

Still many questions arise as the speed of the report was a breakthrough in post mortem history. Usually it takes 24 hours for a post mortem report to be completed. And as the government has been defiant in this case at the last moment also they have shown that they could never be trusted.

 

In a time of allegation against the police this means the government’s propaganda machine will be working tireless the rest of the days blaming MDP for the pin pointing. But the family of the deceased says that they have always suspected that the police tortured him till he was knocked unconscious and then dumped him in the sea. So, the cause of death may be ‘drowning’ but there will be other results from this autopsy.

Source: groundsix

Update: 23-4-07

 A Sri Lankan lawyer representing the family of late Hussain Solah has said that the findings of Colombo’s Consultant Judicial Medical Officer on the postmortem examination conducted on Solah’s body were “contradictory and inexplicable.”

“A CT scan on the body of Solah was done at the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Male on 15 April soon after the discovery of his body and the subsequent statements issued by Maldives police to the media confirm that there was a fracture of the sinus bone and several injuries to the head.

“Unfortunately, the findings of the JMO (Dr. De Alwis) state that there were no injuries to the bones which is contradictory and inexplicable,” Sri Lankan attorney Anil Silva said in a statement released on behalf of Solah’s family. Read more from…

Source:Haveeru news

Another aborted baby found discarded April 22, 2007

A small teeny tiny body was found in the waste water pipes in a house. It seems that police has taken the body for investigation. No one knows where the body is now or what has happened to the body after that. DNA samples could provide evidence in finding the mother. There are foreign labs who do DNA testing. May be police could seek help from these individuals who are REAL professionals.

Additional links:

Punishment is not the solution. 

This is what they are going to do to Hussain Salah April 19, 2007

Real autopsy being done here. Enjoy.

Guru of Anatomy: Gunther von Hagens April 19, 2007

No appropriate time than now to talk about this guy. You are about to see the most graphic human anatomy you will ever see. He is one of my favourites these days. I love this fellow. He is undoubtedly one of the most controversial people living on this earth. Great man nevertheless. He has mesmerised and shocked many across the globe with his “art”. Many say that he has an extremely higher intelligence level and ranks him with great minds like that of Einstein.

Yes. He LIKES TO CUT.

You can buy his video from many video outlets around the globe. (Not so sure about Maldives)

Isnt he just fantastic. I have seen all his videos. It is great.

More about him here.. Click the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Frustrated doctors say on Salah April 18, 2007

A concerned doctor? sent this to this blog.

Sorry to be using your blog for this act. It was one of the few avenues for me to release my frustrations.

I am a Maldivian doctor! In my short career so far, I have dedicated my energies to serving the people. The manipulated news that came in relation to the murder of Salah sickened me. The TV and Radio stated that the doctor who initially examined the body reported no injuries. This was a total and utterly baseless lie being spread by the authorities to hide their own incapacity to prevent the murder in the first place.

The fact of the matter is, the doctor who 1st examined the body, refused to sign the papers insisting that the body would need to be taken to IGMH for further studies as to understand the full extent of the injuries sustained. This was indeed , a highly praise worthy decision in such a pressure situation; none-the-less the right one too.

Far too often people jump to conclusions at the first instance. What may be visible on the outside, may indeed be masking the truth on the inside. The investigations at IGMH confirmed that the body sustained severe injuries. If allowed in public, the medical report clearly states that there were extensive injuries; some of which on their own severe enough to cause death.

It is preposterous that the police, health authorities (including IGMH and MOH) and right mided-media personnel have not responded to this barrage of mis-information that “no injuries were found by initial examining doctor”.

The police investigator who said on national TV that the body bled from the nose only after being turned by the doctor failed to mention that his plausible explanation was just that, and not facts. He also failed to say that there were clear injuries on the body (from torture or otherwise).

We are not part of the government/police cover-up. We have a duty to identify injuries seen on the body and infer a possible cause of death.

Our doctors didn’t do a postmortem because it is not permitted for one thing. The other more valid point is that we do not have a person with enough credentials for that procedure. (You wouldn’t have your appendix removed by a dentist, would you?)

I hope that you would be able to place this as a main post on your blog and help clear the air.

-Concerned Doctor-

Update:

Haveeru articles on the need of autopsy. 1 & 2

Update:20-4-07

It seems that Hussain Salahs body is being transported to Hulhule airport to be airlifted to Shrilanka to caryout an autopsy.

Father of post-mortem April 17, 2007

OOps. i didnt say it.

You all know who it is any way.

A post-mortem is something like unravelling the mysteries of the ancient Egypt. The Pharoahs, the Nile, all have an interesting story to tell. More on that later.
In some countries coronial (only suspicious deaths) post-mortems can be performed without the consent of the family. Authoritative regimes would love to enforce such authority and power over the dead, in such cases like that of Salahs. As the recent events are moving towards the first post-mortem in the history of Maldives, i just thought that i will post some information about autopsies and post-mortems. Places like John Hopkins Hospital has done thousands of autopsies to date. The facilities they had when they started in 1889 is noteworthy.

So what happens during an autopsy or post-mortem investigation? Click launch autopsy to start the step by step process and participate with Dr. Baden on how an autopsy is performed.

A timeline of autopsy history can also be assessed through the above link. It is very interactive and am sure will be very enlightening to you all.

Medicinenet.com is another site where you may want to find more.

Another great online site devoted to the death is also worthy mentioning here.

Or if you want more, you may dwell in to the Great Pharoahs time. This is an excellent read from a chapter.

The patient’s skull, in some (but not all) representations, is malformed, with an elongated head, almond-shaped eyes, lantern-like jaw, protruding teeth and large ears.21 The neck is inordinately long and serpentine. In some representations the chest has a deeply depressed sternum (pectus excavatum) and in others, a protruding sternum characteristic of a pigeon breast deformity (pectus carinatum). The breasts are sometimes as large and round as a woman’s (gynecomastia),as are the hips and buttocks. These feminine characteristics are all the more striking because, more often than not, they are accompanied by a belly as prominent as that of a pregnant woman, as if to emphasize the patient’s fertility and to validate his claim that he was “the Nile which fills the entire land.”22 Moreover, the only nude statue of the patient known to exist lacks a phallus. In fact, unlike that of at least one other pharaoh, a nude statue of King Hor I, the patient’s statue shows no evidence of external genitalia whatsoever.

Enjoy.