Prosecutor General Abbas Shareef has decided not to press charges against President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu over his threatening phone call to Adhadhu CEO and journalist Hussain Fiyaz Moosa.
On March 15, Adhadhu filed a police complaint after Muizzu phoned and threatened Fiyaz over comments about a family member by a political activist during an opposition rally. He received the phone call at 7:04 pm on March 14.
In the minute-long phone call, Muizzu threatened strict action against Fiyaz and Adhadhu.
“While he states that the President called and threatened him by saying 'strictest legal action will be taken,' since this did not constitute an act of threatening that met the above-mentioned legal points this office has concluded that this was not a case for criminal prosecution," PG office said in a statement.
The case was sent to the duty prosecution yesterday and the PG office decided not to prosecute less than 24 hours later. A reliable source confirmed that the police had submitted the case to the duty prosecution to decide how to proceed without taking Muizzu's statement.
"The evidence obtained by the police service has been examined by this office and since it does not show whether the President used any words or phrases that could be legally interpreted as threatening Hussain Fiyaz Moosa," the PG office said even though police had not completed the investigation.
The decision also came after the police decided to provide security to Fiyaz after a risk assessment.
Before taking over as Prosecutor General, Abbas served as Secretary to the President on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs. He was also a member of the Governing Board of the Maldives International Financial Service Authority created by the current administration.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for a full investigation into the matter. The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) also called for an immediate and fair investigation.
The Maldives Media Council (MMC) is conducting a separate investigation. Fiyaz was summoned to the MMC on Monday. The MMC has now requested to meet the President's Office.
