Maldives president promises justice for abducted journalist’s murder
Rilwan was beheaded and his body was sunk, a presidential commission found.
03 Sep 2019, 9:00 AM
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Tuesday pledged to take “necessary legal action” in light of chilling revelations by an inquiry commission that probed the abduction of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.
The commission was set up for the purpose of “finding out what happened to Rilwan, bringing the perpetrators to justice and taking all necessary measures to ensure such an incident is not repeated,” Solih tweeted, hours after a summary of the commission’s draft report was shared with parliament and made public on Tuesday morning.
The Maldives Independent journalist was abducted at knifepoint in the early hours of August 8, 2014 and murdered at sea by a local extremist group affiliated with al-Qaeda, the presidential commission concluded.
The 28-year-old’s body was sunk after he was beheaded on a boat, a secret witness told the commission. Aside from two men who were acquitted in August 2018, the report named several other suspects from the extremist group and revealed details of the abduction.
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