A tribute to Yameen Rasheed – and a call for justice and accountability

Yameen Rasheed, age 29, was an outspoken journalist and political satirist who frequently criticised the Government of the Maldives and the country’s trend towards radical Islam on his blog The Daily Panic and on Twitter. He began his blog to report on, in his own words: “Nothing but the unfiltered truth, the sickening facts, the gruesome details, and – because this is the Maldives – the painfully obvious.”

As the Maldives returned to authoritarian rule under President Abdulla Yameen, Rasheed was the proverbial candle in the dark room, lighting up the truth for all to see, but in so doing he also attracted a relentless stream of death threats. Despite the obvious danger and even the disappearance and murder of his friend and fellow journalist Ahmed Rilwan, he refused to be intimated into silence. And for his fearless commitment to restoring freedom, democracy, and human rights to the Maldives, he paid the ultimate price.

In the early morning hours of April 23, 2017, Rasheed was found unconscious from severe blood loss in the stairwell of his apartment building in Malé, Maldives. He was rushed to Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The family, who were present at the hospital, reported that his throat had been slit, he had been stabbed 35 times, and part of his skull was missing.