After President Muizzu ratified the new media regulation bill and established the Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission, the Maldives Journalists Association called an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to proceed with civil disobedience. The union decided to challenge the constitutionality of the law at the High Court and tasked a five-member committee with drafting a framework to establish an independent press council formed to serve as a self-regulatory mechanism. Participants also agreed to encourage media outlets to boycott the election to elect representatives to the new state regulator.
The foreign minister thanked India for rolling over a US$ 50 million treasury bill, “extending vital budgetary support to the Maldives.”
The Prosecutor General’s office filed charges against former state minister Akram Kamalluddin and three former housing ministry officials over alleged abuse of authority to unfairly evaluate submissions for social housing flats and plots of land in order to place ineligible applicants on the list of recipients.
Police denied the use of excessive force against journalists and members of the public who demonstrated outside parliament on Tuesday, claiming to have “exercised maximum restraint” in handling the “unlawful assembly,” and accusing protesters of breaching barricades and obstructing security operations.
Shaheeb Ibrahim, a 44-year-old man on trial for smuggling 130 kilograms of drugs in 2020, turned himself in to the police after the criminal court ordered the arrest of his wife for aiding him in evading capture. Police had been searching for Shaheeb following a court order to present him under custody to a sentencing hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
