The jailing of journalists @MrLeevaaan and @MohamedShahzan both journalists for @AdhadhuMV marks another shameful chapter in the government’s attempt to intimidate the press and silence public dissent.
It is also a clear indication of government interference in the judicial process.
These attacks on press freedom and free expression will not succeed. We will never waver in defending the hard-won rights and freedoms guaranteed to every citizen under the Constitution.
The sentencing of @AdhadhuMV journalists @MrLeevaaan and @MohamedShahzan marks a dark day for press freedom in the Maldives.
Journalists must never be jailed for doing their jobs.
This is a serious blow to independent media and a chilling warning to all who seek to hold power to account.
President Muizzu’s stated commitment to media freedom rings hollow.
I call for their immediate release.
The president has given up maintaining even the barest facade of caring for freedom of expression anymore. Without a trial or lawful investigation, the courts have issued an unconstitutional gag order prohibiting all conversation around the documentary.
Journalists @MohamedShahzan and @MrLeevaaan have been hit with charges of contempt of the court, again without legal basis or constitutional weight, and the kangaroo courts have sentenced them to 10 and 15 days respectively in “secret” hearings.
These sham trials show that the president is no longer satisfied with harassing and intimidating journalists, and that he is willing to abuse the full weight of the state to persecute personal and political opponents. We have entered another truly fearful period in our country’s history.
Dictator Muizzu has pushed our fight for fundamental rights more than half a century back. Freedom of speech and expression may be a joke to this administration, but we will fight tooth and nail to stop you from taking these rights away. I ask all citizens of the country to defy these unconstitutional decisions and protest in any way you can.
“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”-
Voltaire