Maldives president declares abducted journalist ‘dead’
The president denied thwarting the investigation into the missing journalist, “who is now dead.”
07 Aug 2018, 9:00 AM
President Abdulla Yameen has declared Ahmed Rilwan dead, after nearly four years of authorities refusing to say what happened to the abducted Maldives Independent journalist.
Speaking on the island of Madaveli Tuesday afternoon, Yameen dismissed as a “blatant lie” allegations by his jailed former deputy that the president had “overruled” his efforts within the cabinet to find the missing journalist.
“I’ve seen in a newspaper today what my former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb said. Minivan News [renamed Maldives Independent] journalist Rilwan, who is now dead, no doubt, a very regrettable matter, [Adeeb said] ‘President Yameen stopped the investigation into the death when we were looking into it at the cabinet level,'” Yameen said.
In a tweet following immediate media coverage of the remarks, Yameen’s spokesman said the president “did not confirm Rilwan’s death” but was responding to Adeeb’s allegations.
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