@hdcmaldives dhaleh jahaaleema nimuneetho? Mulhi creek ga miadhuves othee hus fulhi. @WAMCOmv zimmaadhaarukuruvaigen noonee massala hallu nuvaane. This is all coming from their loading point.
Nasreena and I wish all Maldivians and Muslims around the world a very happy and blessed Eid al-Adha. May this blessed Eid bring peace, happiness, and prosperity to all.
#BREAKING The bodies of Monica Montefalcone and Federico Gualtieri have now been brought to the Male’, capital city of #Maldives. The two bodies were recovered today from the third chamber of the Vaavu Atoll #CaveDive following hours of complex underwater recovery operations carried out by international technical diving teams assisted by @MNDF_Official Coastguard & @PoliceMv teams. @RaiNews@Tg3web@repubblica@ilario82
Police obstructed three former presidents when they attempted to go to Rasfannu to call for the release of journalists and political detainees imprisoned behind prison bars.
🚨 The international community must launch an urgent investigation into these violations of press freedom, fair trial rights and the right to peaceful protest in the Maldives. @Amnesty@HRW@UNHumanRights@RSF_en@CPJ@commonwealthsec@USinMaldives@UKinMaldives
Brutal police crackdown on peaceful protesters in Maldives (May 13, 2026) — Maldivians took to the streets of Capital Male’ City, marching peacefully to demand the immediate release of two @AdhadhuMV journalists jailed just yesterday. Police responded with brutal force in riot gear, arresting and roughly dragging activists including @lucasjalyl, @MunaAmina, @dethpuhu, @beenteys, @meemu_sapppe, @AminathManike4, Shujau Afeef, Ali Mushaffau, Abdulla Shareef and many others into police vans.
The protests started because of the jailing of Adhadhu journalists @MohamedShahzan and @MrLeevaaan (Leevan Ali Nasir). In closed-door hearings, both were given only 2 hours to find a lawyer but failed to secure one in such short notice. They were sentenced the same day within hours, without any legal representation, without a proper defence, and without natural justice.
@MohamedShahzan was given 15 days in jail simply for asking President @MMuizzu one direct question at a live press conference: why he had made 58 late-night and early-morning calls to the former President’s Office staff member. This question related to the “Aisha” documentary, an investigative film released by Adhadhu on 28 March 2026 that featured an anonymized interview with a 22-year-old single mother who had worked as an administrator in the President’s Office. In it, she alleged that President @MMuizzu had a sexual relationship with her shortly after she joined, involving sexual misconduct and abuse of power, along with 58 late-night and early-morning calls plus gifts throughout 2025. President Muizzu has denied all these allegations.
President Muizzu refused to answer the question, accused @MohamedShahzan on the spot of breaching the gag order (a sweeping Criminal Court order that completely bans any direct or indirect discussion, publication, sharing, mention or commentary on the “Aisha” documentary or its allegations), and ordered security to remove him immediately. @MrLeevaaan received 10 days in jail plus fines for nothing more than publishing a news report that stated the Criminal Court had issued this same gag order.
This crisis began with that “Aisha” documentary. The government’s response was severe. On 27 April 2026, police raided Adhadhu’s office in Malé under a Criminal Court warrant based on Qazf charges (false accusation of adultery under Section 612(a) of the Penal Code, which carries up to 1 year and 7 months in prison plus 80 lashes). They seized more than 20 electronic devices, laptops of journalists, marketing staff and administrators, hard drives, pen drives and other equipment. Three-month travel bans were imposed on Adhadhu CEO @hussainfiyaz and Editor @Hassana_mv, with their passports confiscated. The Prosecutor General filed full criminal Qazf charges against @hussainfiyaz and @Hassana_mv, plus extra counts of defamation, complicity, vicarious liability and solicitation. A secret closed-door trial was ordered.
From the documentary and its serious allegations, through the office raid and massive equipment seizures, the travel bans on @hussainfiyaz and @Hassana_mv, the criminal prosecutions and secret trial, the broad gag order that President @MMuizzu himself invoked to silence questioning, the unfair same-day sentencing of @MohamedShahzan and @MrLeevaaan without due process, to tonight’s protests and the brutal police crackdown with arrests of @lucasjalyl, @MunaAmina, @dethpuhu, @beenteys, @meemu_sapppe, @AminathManike4, Shujau Afeef, Ali Mushaffau, Abdulla Shareef and dozens of others — this represents a full-scale assault on journalism and peaceful dissent.
#Maldives #PressFreedom #HumanRights #FreeShahzanAndLeevan #FreeAdhadhuJournalists