People of Meedhoo march for murdered youth

The community of Meedhoo in Raa atoll marched Saturday calling for justice for a young man from the island who was brutally murdered in Malé last week.

Hundreds of people clad in black and carrying banners and placards came out in solidarity with grieving family and friends. The walk ended with an emotional prayer and the signing of a petition to the authorities.

“Almost all the citizens from Meedhoo joined the march, which went on from 4:30 pm to 6 pm. We received over 600 signatures for the petition,” Abdulla Shiham, a cousin of the victim who was involved in organising the event, told the Maldives Independent.

Mohamed Anas, 25, was reportedly stabbed 37 times by a group of masked men in a motorcycle service centre in the capital. He died while undergoing treatment at the nearby ADK hospital.

“We would like this to be the beginning of a series of calls for justice and a halt to violence. Signing is still going on and a similar activity is to be carried out in neighbouring island Maduvvari this evening and we are getting ready to join them,” Shiham said.

President Abdulla Yameen meanwhile declared in a speech Thursday night that Anas was killed by in a case of mistaken identity.

“He wasn’t the one at fault. It was the t-shirt he was wearing,” Yameen said at the opening of a park in Hulhumalé,

“His soul was snatched from his body because there was another boy wearing the same T-shirt and he was thought to be that boy.”