Maldivian ‘terrorist leaders’ face criminal charges

Cases have been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s office to press terrorism charges against Mohamed Ameen, police said on Tuesday. The first Maldivian to be designated a “terrorist leader” by the United States, the 35-year-old was arrested in October over the alleged recruitment of jihadi fighters.

According to police, Ameen was suspected of “aiding, abetting and being actively involved in large-scale efforts to recruit and send Maldivians to fight in wars for terrorist, militant organisations”; “providing financial and technological support to foreign terrorist organisations”; “maintaining close relationships with leaders of foreign terrorist organisations”; and “being an active leader in carrying forward the activities of foreign terrorist organisations.”

In September, the presidential commission named Ameen as the leader of a Maldivian group affiliated with IS. A secret witness told the commission that the IS affiliate was formed after in the wake of a split among local extremists after Abubakr al-Baghdadi declared the so-called Islamic State in 2014. One group pledged their allegiance to the rival al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, the inquiry commission found.