Haveeru Daily

''Haveeru Daily'' () was the longest serving daily newspaper in the Maldives, established on 1 January 1979.

Haveeru Online is owned by Haveeru Media Group – a company registered under the founder, Mohamed Zahir Hussain's three children – Lubna Zahir Hussain, Leena Zahir Hussain and Vail Zahir Hussain.

Name

The name ''Haveeru'' symbolises the onset of the cool evening time after the heat of the day, which is also the time when the newspaper is brought out. In Dhivehi literature, "haveeru kurun" means the get-together of poets and writers for literary exchanges. Thus, it was decided that the newspaper's name should also symbolise news, information and literary learning.

History

Haveeru was registered on 9 December 1978 to fill the gap created by the absence of a newspaper, when ''Moonlight'' ceased publication on 9 December 1978. The first issue was published on 1 January 1979, under Mohamed Zahir Hussain's proprietorship, who's a close friend of the President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and has been serving Minister level positions of the government since 1978.

Haveeru Daily was the longest serving daily newspaper in Maldives, which marked its 20th anniversary on 1 January 1999. Since first day it was a guide for information, news, and literature. A significant advantage was that it was published in the native language, rather than English. The newspaper frequently published investigative reports and political analyses, contributing to the shaping of democratic processes in the Maldives. It also served as a platform for local artists, writers, and intellectuals to share their views with a broad audience. The literary section of ''Haveeru Daily'' played a significant role in promoting literature in the Dhivehi language.

Haveeru is the first newspaper to be printed by offset. The newspaper's efforts at getting its own printing press dates as far back as 1 April 1981, when a private printer declined to publish the newspaper. With just a break of one day, seen by many as an April Fools' Day joke, Haveeru rolled off from another press, but this time not in offset, but hand-written on stencils for cyclostyling. The page size was 30x42 cm.

The newspaper first rolled off Haveeru's own offset press on 1 September 1986, with a new enlarged size of 38x55cm. The size was later increased to 42.5x60.5 cm on 1 January 1994.

Haveeru is the first newspaper in the Maldives to be computerised, in 1985. Haveeru was the first to begin using Thaana typewriters and Thaana word processors.

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) bestowed its Global 500 Environmental Honour on Haveeru's photojournalist Mohamed Zahir, following a series of environmental articles published in Haveeru, which he wrote under his initials in Dhivehi "މޒ" (Meemu Zaviyani).

Haveeru was the first newspaper in the Maldives to link up with a foreign news agency, the first link-up being the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) in 1985, Agence France Presse (AFP) in 1992, and Reuters in 1994. Since the use of radioteletype receivers wasn't a stable way to get news reception as it was disrupted by unstable weather, Haveeru turned towards satellite communications, and the newspaper became the first Maldives daily to establish links—via satellite—to get news and information for the print media.

In May 1998, Haveeru established Haveeru Addu Bureau in Addu Atoll, Feydhoo Island, the first regional news centre by a Maldives newspaper. Two full-time journalists are stationed there to cover events in the southern atolls, and reporting is carried out by sending information via the World Wide Web.

Court battle

Civil Court on Saturday (2 April 2016) also that Haveeru shut down its online news website as well as all other branches of the company – which ownership is being disputed over. The Court sent a letter to the Chairman of Haveeru, Dr. Mohamed Zahir Hussain, saying that Haveeru needed to comply with the order issued by the court to temporarily halt all of the company's operations which includes using the logo of the company or publishing anything under the name of Haveeru unless in accordance with the procedure stated in the court order; so that the trial remains fair and just.

The sale of the news agency was temporarily halted by the Civil Court and was appealed to the High Court, but the High Court upheld the order.

High Court ruled last September that Haveeru News Agency wasn't just the company's chairman Dr. Mohamed Zahir Hussain's. And that Farooq Hassan and Ibrahim Rasheed Moosa also had a stake in the company.

The court had ordered Haveeru to pay Farooq and Ibrahim Rasheed one fourth of the profit made by the company to date, each.

The Civil Court issued an order for a temporary halt to Haveeru operations on Thursday in response to a lawsuit filed by Farooq and Ibrahim Rasheed. The court ordered a halt to all bank transactions from any of the company's accounts, and to halt any operation by the company without the involvement of Farooq and Ibrahim Rasheed until the ownership issue was resolved in court. But the agency said that Haveeru Online News would remain operational as the order did not affect it. After halting operations on both Haveeru Online and the magazine, public outcry was met with people standing with Haveeru along with high profile opposition figures lambasting at Yameen's government for increasing attacks on media freedom. The Maldivian Democratic Party said in a statement “This is evidence of the government’s influence in judiciary and its atrocity," read in Dhivehi.

The Civil Court later said that they issued the order based on the damage to Farooq and Ibrahim Rasheed – who hold a combined share of 50 percent, while Zahir holds only 25 percent. Adding that Farooq and Ibrahim Rasheed had the right to request for a temporary halt to Haveeru operations. High Court had ruled earlier that an agreement had been made between four individuals to set up Haveeru News Agency. And that all four founding members had a stake in the company even now, with the fourth shareholder being Mohamed Naeem.

The court had said that Farooq, Naeem and Rasheed still had a stake in the company despite Haveeru News Agency and all subsidiary companies having been renamed. Due to the Civil Court ruling in Farooq and Rasheed's favor, Haveeru Online and other branches of Haveeru News Agency was shut down.

The Supreme Court ruled to uphold the Civil Court's 2014 verdict that Farooq, Naseem and Rasheed don't have any shares in Haveeru or any of its subsidiaries and that its the sole property of Dr. Zahir. The Maldives Journalists' Association (MJA) congratulated Haveeru for winning the case and hoped that Haveeru would unleash its archives of news to the general public.

Haveeru Staff Media Ban

On 3 July 2016, the Civil Court delivered a verdict over a legal dispute over the ownership of Haveeru, barring all employees from working at a media outlet in the country for 2 years. The verdict was delivered by Judge Mohamed Haleem, which could have forced the closure of the '' Mihaaru'' newspaper, which was set up in May by former journalists of Haveeru who resigned in mass after Haveeru was forced to shut down. The verdict had sparked public outcry and condemnation and has been described as a violation of the constitution article 37(a). RSF slammed the government for its continued obstruction of critical and independent media. The Maldivian Democratic Party stated that the ban was a mockery of justice and criticized Yameen's government as being an obstacle to reforming and ensuring the freedom of judiciary. The ex-Haveeru staff had sought to overturn the verdict delivered by the court. The High Court also ordered Haveeru Chairman, Zahir, to join the two appeals being heard by the appellate court.

References

External links

''Haveeru Daily Online''
(archived)
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Haveeru Daily Online
{{Authority control

Newspapers published in the Maldives
Malé
Defunct newspapers
1979 establishments in the Maldives
Newspapers established in 1979