Maldives police raid news outlet over report alleging president’s affair | Freedom of the Press News

Male, Maldives – Police in the Maldives have raided the workplaces of a essential news outlet and swept its editors from leaving the nation after it printed a documentary alleging an affair between President Mohamed Muizzu and a former aide.

The authorities on Tuesday defended the operation towards Adhadhu Online as a lawful response to what Muizzu has described as “baseless lies.”

Police have been “right to investigate and raid the news outlet over false [adultery] allegations against the President,” Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan mentioned in a submit on X.

“Press freedom is guaranteed, but not a free pass to destroy reputations with lies,” he mentioned.

The raid happened late on Monday evening, with police seizing laptops and storage units, hours after Muizzu known as on “relevant authorities to press charges against all parties who spread such false information.”

The documentary, titled Aisha and posted on Adhadhu’s X and Facebook accounts on March 28, featured an anonymized interview with a lady who claimed she had had a sexual relationship with Muizzu.

The lady, who mentioned she was a 22-year-old single mom, mentioned the affair happened final yr, shortly after she joined the President’s Office as an administrator. Muizzu is 47, married, and a father of three.

The documentary was launched days earlier than a constitutional referendum that delivered a stinging midterm rebuke to Muizzu, with 69 % of voters rejecting a authorities proposal on April 4 to align presidential and parliamentary election cycles. Critics had mentioned the plan would undermine checks and balances in the nation.

‘On the authorities’s order’

The raid on Adhadhu – aligned with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party – comes amid mounting concerns over press freedom in the Maldives, a Sunni Muslim island nation whose luxurious resorts draw vacationers from round the world. Those fears have been stoked by a widely criticized media law handed in September of final yr that established a fee, stacked with authorities loyalists, with the energy to superb, droop and shut down shops.

A letter from the new regulator, together with a police intelligence report, shaped half of the proof for the search warrant towards Adhadhu on Monday.

The warrant accused the outlet and its employees of “qazf” or the false accusation of adultery or unlawful sexual activity. The offense carries a jail time period of one yr and 7 months, and can even embrace 80 lashes.

Adhadhu CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa, who was slapped with a journey ban over the documentary, condemned the police’s actions as an assault on press freedom.

“This is being done by the police, with the influence of the government, on the government’s order, to directly stop our work,” he advised Al Jazeera.

During the four-hour search, Fiyaz mentioned police seized the laptops of journalists, advertising and marketing employees and directors, together with arduous drives and pen drives, regardless of a court docket warrant that licensed solely search and inspection of the premises.

He mentioned a separate legal court docket warrant issued later imposed a journey ban on him and Editor Hassan Mohamed, freezing their passports till July 26. The order cited a police intelligence report alleging that the two have been planning to flee the nation.

Fiyaz, who had returned to the Maldivian capital, Male, from an abroad journey shortly earlier than the raid, mentioned the foundation for the order made no sense. He careworn that police had not approached the newsroom with any questions in the 4 weeks between the documentary’s publication and the raid.

The two editors have now been summoned to seem earlier than police on Wednesday.

Fiyaz mentioned the police investigation wouldn’t cease Adhadhu’s work.

“No matter how much the government wants to stop Adhadhu news, our voice and our thoughts cannot be silenced,” he mentioned.

Al Jazeera is awaiting remark from the Maldivian authorities on Fiyaz’s claims.

Chief spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef advised Al Jazeera he would reply afterward Tuesday, as he was boarding a aircraft.

‘A transparent pink line’

The raid on Adhadhu was not the first on Maldivian newsrooms.

The workplaces of Maldives Independent, a news web site, was searched in 2016, whereas the broadcasting regulator additionally pulled two tv stations off air throughout the similar interval. But the legal use of “qazf” towards a news outlet and the wholesale seizure of journalists’ computer systems and storage units are each unprecedented.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Tuesday known as on the authorities to return the seized tools and elevate the journey bans.

“The raid on Adhadhu and subsequent travel bans are an attempt to criminalize investigative journalism under the guise of religious and national interests,” mentioned CPJ’s Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator Kunal Majumder. “Using religious laws to bypass civil media regulations sets a chilling precedent. Authorities must allow the press to hold government offices accountable.”

The Maldives Journalists Association additionally expressed alarm.

“The government is crossing a clear red line,” it mentioned in a press release.

“We demand an immediate end to the intimidation of journalists and the suppression of press freedom.”