A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
One of the largest TV stations in the Maldives, Raajje TV, says authorities are using newly recriminalized defamation law to try to shut it down by levying exorbitant fines. The regulatory Maldives Broadcast Commission (MBC) has fined the opposition-aligned 24-hour TV news channel for defamation three times in the past seven months, for a total […]
The original Dhivehi article was published on Mihaaru.com website on 24th October 2017. The following is a loose translation: Even from a small sample, there will not be any 30-something Maldivian who would not know what Dhivehi Observer was. If a person of that age group doesn’t know what it is, then that person would […]
In a predawn operation Tuesday, riot police removed banners put up by opposition supporters on the island of Maduvvari in Raa atoll ahead of a visit by President Abdulla Yameen. A warrant issued by the Raa Inguraidhoo magistrate court authorised the police to confiscate “banners, loudspeakers and sound systems” on suspicion that people were planning […]
Raajje TV journalists hold a peaceful protest against Broadcasting Commission at the Maldives Journalism Awards 2016 held in October 2017. PHOTO/MIHAARU The government on Sunday submitted a bill to the parliament, seeking to appoint a single body to regulate all media outlets in the country. The new bill calls for considerable changes to be brought […]
A ruling party lawmaker has proposed legislation for the creation of a new media regulatory body after dissolving the broadcasting commission and media council. The introduction of the ‘Maldives Media Commission’ bill has been tabled in the agenda for Tuesday’s sitting of parliament. MP Jaufar Dawood, who submitted the bill on behalf of the government, […]
Opposition MP Ibrahim Mohamed Didi’s terrorism trial over the military’s detention of the criminal court’s former chief judge in January 2012 resumed Monday with new legal counsel. The retired brigadier general’s trial has been stalled since August after his first lawyer was suspended over a judicial reform petition. A second lawyer withdrew from the case earlier […]
Jailed former defence minister Mohamed Nazim arrives for a court hearing. PHOTO: NISHAN ALI/MIHAARU Jailed former defence minister Mohamed Nazim was brought to state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in capital Male early on Monday for treatment. The details of his ailment are not clear. Both his family and lawyers claimed that Maldives Correctional Services […]
The first Maldivians to be charged with travelling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group have been acquitted and set free. In a closed hearing Thursday, the criminal court decided that the prosecution was unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Ahmed Latheef, Ahmed Suhail Moosa, and Munawwar Abdulla went to Turkey to cross the […]
Some Maldivian Jihadists pictured in Syria The Criminal Court on Sunday freed three Maldivian men who were caught at the Turkish border while en route to join the Syrian civil war. The state had charged Ahmed Latheef from Maamendhoo in Laamu atoll, Ahmed Suhail Moosa from Gahdhoo in Gaafu Dhaalu atoll and Munawar Abdullah from […]