Six organizations have called to release full reports of investigations conducted by a committee under the former government and take action against negligent state agencies.
Human Rights Watch, Transparency Maldives, Reporters Without Borders, Maldives Journalists Association, International Federation of Journalists and Association for Democracy in the Maldives called for justice for crimes against journalists.
The Commission on Deaths and Disappearances compiled a report on the case of journalist Ahmed Rilwan. Three people were charged in connection with the case of blogger Yameen Rasheed and Rilwan.
The associations expressed concern as the Criminal Court had dismissed the charges on November 22.
They also questioned the decisions taken by the investigating agencies.
“The continued secrecy of cases and the exploitation of serious crimes against journalists by political parties have resulted in a complete loss of public confidence in the investigative agencies and the judiciary,” the statement said.
They called on the government to take four steps, including the disclosure of a full report on the work done and investigations conducted by the commission.
They also called for the prosecution of negligent agencies also to explain the reasons why the Prosecutor General (PG) decided not to appeal the court’s dismissal of the charges.
Rilwan, a journalist working for Minivan News, went missing on August 7, 2014. During a press conference in September 2019, the commission revealed that Maldivian members of the terrorist groups ISIS and al-Qaeda killed Rilwan and sank his body into the sea.
Rilwan was killed in the name of Islam after he was declared an apostate and sentenced within the group, the commission said. The commission also said that Rilwan was killed while he was reciting the Shahadah or the declaration of Islamic faith.
Blogger Yameen Rasheed was killed on April 23, 2017 while he was fighting for justice in the Rilwan case. Two men have been convicted in connection with his murder.
