Radicalisation

Two Maldivians among Malaysia terror suspects

“The two Maldives men, who worked as air-conditioner technicians, were arrested for using Malaysia and Singapore as a transit point before heading to Syria to join IS,” said Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohamad Fuzi Harun.

Man arrested for raising Islamic State flag

Superintendent Ahmed Shifan told Maldives Independent that the suspect was arrested earlier this week and the criminal court has since remanded him to police custody for seven days.

MDP warns of ‘creeping colonialism’ by Saudi Arabia

Maldives holds landmark conference on tourism and terrorism

The Maldives police and British counter-terrorism experts sat down this week with more than a 100 tourism sector security personnel to work out measures to protect visitors from potential acts of terror.

Trial begins for three ‘Jihadis’

Ahmed Latheef, Ahmed Suhail Moosa, and Munawwar Abdulla are the first to stand trial for traveling abroad with the intent of joining a terror group after the offence was criminalised by the controversial 2015 Anti-Terrorism Act.

Politics of radicalisation: how the Maldives is failing to stem violent extremism

Azim Zahir explores the array of factors that fuel radicalisation in the Maldives; “block thinking” that does not bother to understand complexities; government’s trivialising of the issue; instrumentalisation of religion by all political parties; and the “Islamisation” of gangs.

PPM accuses Indian newspaper of defaming Gayoom

Reacting angrily to an article on the Mumbai Mirror about a radicalised Maldivian family of 12 joining Islamic State, the PPM said it contained “factual inaccuracies and fabrications,” and called it “an attack on the country of Maldives, its peace-loving citizens, and its authorities.”

Government accused of using radical preachers ‘to justify injustice’

A sermon by a Saudi preacher in which he claimed it is un-Islamic to disobey rulers even if they are unjust and corrupt has stirred controversy, with the opposition accusing the government of using “fundamentalist preachers to stifle democracy.”

Comment: Maldivians in 2014 – What are we?

Islam as a political weapon in the Maldives: Eurasia Review

Maafushi parents pull students from preschool over playing of nursery rhymes, lack of gender segregation