Maldives police raid Adhadhu after documentary on Muizzu affair
Maldives police raided Adhadhu Online late Monday night after the outlet published a documentary alleging an affair involving President Mohamed Muizzu, then seized laptops and storage devices from the newsroom. A separate criminal court order later froze the passports of Adhadhu CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and Editor Hassan Mohamed until July 26.
Adhadhu documentary Aisha
The documentary, titled Aisha, appeared on Adhadhu’s X and Facebook accounts on March 28 and included an anonymised interview with a woman who said she had had a sexual relationship with Muizzu. The woman described herself as a 22-year-old single mother and said the affair took place last year, shortly after she joined the President’s Office as an administrator.
Muizzu, 47, married and the father of three, called on relevant authorities to press charges against all parties who spread what he described as false information. Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan said police were right to investigate and raid the news outlet over false adultery allegations against the President.
Warrant and travel bans
Hussain Fiyaz Moosa said police took laptops from journalists, marketing staff and administrators, along with hard drives and pen drives, despite a court warrant that authorised only search and inspection of the premises. A letter from the new regulator and a police intelligence report formed part of the evidence for the search warrant against Adhadhu on Monday, and the warrant accused the outlet and its staff of qazf, the false accusation of adultery or unlawful sexual intercourse.
The criminal court order that followed cited a police intelligence report alleging that Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and Hassan Mohamed were planning to flee the country. The order froze their passports until July 26 and barred both editors from leaving the Maldives while the case moves forward.
Press freedom in Maldives
Hussain Fiyaz Moosa condemned the police action as an attack on press freedom and said, “This is being done by the police, with the influence of the government, on the government’s order, to directly stop our work,”. Adhadhu is aligned with the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, and the raid came amid mounting concerns over press freedom in the Maldives after a widely criticised media law passed in September of last year gave a commission power to fine, suspend and shut down outlets.
The dispute now sits inside a legal frame that carries a prison term of one year and seven months and can also include 80 lashes for qazf, while the documentary was released days before the April 4 constitutional referendum in which 69 percent of voters rejected a government proposal to align presidential and parliamentary election cycles. The next visible step is the travel-ban case against Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and Hassan Mohamed, with their passports frozen until July 26.
