Episode 12: Shiman's lawyer recounts procedural chaos after private photo leak

Shiman’s lawyer Sheena Mohamed spoke on the Maldives Independent’s Ithuru Vaahaka podcast after accompanying her client to the police station on Sunday. The 20-year-old had been summoned for interrogation as a criminal suspect – only to have officers return her phone and declare they no longer wished to question her. 

“We questioned them [saying], this is a very big mystery, I have never faced a situation like this at all as a criminal defence attorney,” Sheena recounted, detailing the procedural irregularities that suggested the legal pretext was secondary to the leak.

On October 8, about 20 police officers stopped Shiman on the street with a search warrant, frisked her and seized her phone. According to Shiman, they did not show a separate court order authorising the seizure of her phone. But police later made several attempts to hand over the warrant, including by contacting her family. The order compelled Shiman to disclose her password and enable access to apps. 

The alleged offence was not made clear at the time. She was later informed that it concerned a tweet posted on X on September 20 that suggested that President Dr Mohamed Muizzu should be assassinated. 

Police did not specify the exact tweet but government officials on social media have since shared screenshots. 

Less than 24 hours after police seized her phone, Shiman’s photo was posted by an anonymous X account on Thursday (October 9). It was a photo she took of herself when she was 16. “They are doing it now to intimidate and silence me. It is clear that they leaked the photo. There is no question about it,” she told Adhadhu.  

After taking her phone, police initially told Shiman’s lawyers that they wished to take her statement “to clarify information.” But on Saturday evening (October 11), she was summoned for questioning as a suspect. When her lawyers asked for an explanation, “we did not get a straight answer,” Sheena said on the podcast.

Police called Sheena after 11pm on Saturday to hand over the summons. The summary of the case referred to the September 20 tweet alleged to have incited violence. 

But when Shiman appeared for questioning, police officers returned her phone. “Now we don’t want to take the statement anymore. Now there is no charge of any kind,” the investigating officer told them, according to Sheena. 

After police returned Shiman’s phone on Sunday, battery usage data from Thursday showed 33 minutes spent accessing her Google photos app. 

Earlier on Sunday, Fathimath Zahiyya, a member of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s national council, accused police of leaking her videos after seizing her phone on October 7. An anonymous X account posted two videos before it was suspended. 

Sheena accused police of leaking sensitive information as an “intimidation tactic” against the prominent female activists. The procedural chaos and the 19-day gap between Shiman’s tweet and phone seizure showed that the police conduct in her case was “politically motivated,” Sheena argued, criticising the “waste” of time and resources of investigating officers “when a lot of real and serious crimes are happening in the country.” 

“I would say they’re exploiting the police institution, those who are behind this,” she said.

0:30 - Why, when and how was Shiman’s phone confiscated?

1:20 - “No court order was produced at the time of confiscation!”

3:20 - The allegation

5:30 - The summons

6:40 - Phone returned 

7:14 - “No allegations and no need for a statement at this time”

7:40 - Sounding more like a riddle

9:20 - Police actions contradictory and unclear

10:10 - Comment on private photos and videos being leaked

11:40 - Abuse of power and waste of reserves 

12:35 - “Shiman in shock but refuses to relent”