A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
A 75-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing four siblings on an island in Gaaf Dhaal atoll. A police spokesman confirmed that the suspect was arrested in Malé last Thursday “on charges of sexually abusing four underage girls.” On Friday, the criminal court remanded him to 15 days under house arrest. The arrest […]
Teachers in the Maldives must be educated on how to monitor students for extremist ideologies, according to the first strategy document from the National Counter Terror Centre. US-based security and risk management consultancy the Soufan Group says around 200 to 250 Maldivians are known to be fighting in Syria and Iraq, making the island nation […]
The country’s anti-corruption watchdog filed just a handful of cases for prosecution during the third quarter of 2017, despite investigating 265 cases during that period. The monthly case reports for the year were released Wednesday by the Anti-Corruption Commission and showed the body investigated a total of 815 cases up until the third quarter, out […]
The criminal court on Tuesday heard closing arguments in the trial of the first Maldivians charged with human trafficking. Mohamed Muahmar and Hussain Sunaih are accused of trafficking by submitting fake construction agreements and other documents to obtain hundreds of immigration permits. They were charged with participating in human trafficking, lying to a government office and […]
Mohamed Anas was brutally murdered because he was mistaken by his assailants for a member of a rival gang, the police have revealed. Anas, a 25-year-old speedboat captain from the island of Meedhoo in Raa atoll, was stabbed to death by a group of masked men inside a motorcycle shop in Malé around 9:15 pm on […]
A Bangladeshi man on trial for trafficking three fellow countrymen into the Maldives admitted guilt at the criminal court on Monday. Mohyuddin and Masoodh Rana are accused of taking money from three Bangladeshi men to bring them to the Maldives on false pretences. The two defendants were arrested last year after a meeting with the victims at the Sultan Park in Malé turned into a fistfight. […]
Hearings in the trial of six suspects accused of murdering liberal blogger Yameen Rasheed continue to be closed at the request of the Prosecutor General’s office. PG office spokesman Ahmed Thaufeeg, who previously assured that public hearings will be held in the future, told the Maldives Independent that a hearing on Sunday afternoon was closed because […]
The police have tagged seven suspected gang members after the High Court granted monitoring and control orders, but are refusing to say if electronic tagging is being used. “We have now implemented the order against seven people,” police spokesman Ahmed Shifan said, declining to give further details. Police have already said ‘MoniCon’ orders have been […]
A top Maldives diplomat has highlighted the country’s work in tackling extremism, despite criticism of the government’s failure to deliver key elements in its fight against terrorism. The ambassador to India, Ahmed Mohamed, was speaking to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in a wide-ranging interview. He described the country’s borders as “quite […]