Mohamed Ameen, the man accused of being the recruiter and leader of the Maldivian offshoot of the transnational terrorist organization Islamic State, has been detained again by Maldives Police.
He was rearrested after the Criminal Court issued a 30-day detention order on Sunday in response to a request filed by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Ameen was detained on Monday, according to a Maldives Police Service media official, but no additional information was released.
Ameen, the first Maldivian on the list of terrorists publicised by America’s Department of the Treasuries Office of Foreign Affairs Control (OFAC), was first detained in October 2019 on suspicion of promoting extremist beliefs on a wide scale in the Maldives, as well as recruiting and leading terrorist combatants abroad.
The accusations against Ameen were dismissed by the High Court when the Prosecutor General’s Office failed to submit charges by the deadline of September 16, 2021.
The High Court ruled that because Ameen was remanded under the Criminal Procedure Code, the state must file the case in accordance with the penal court standards. The state filed the case after the duration specified in the criminal code had expired but within the time frame specified in the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
But the Supreme Court decided on October 3 that, while a suspect in an anti-terrorism investigation may be apprehended under the Criminal Procedure Code, the prosecution would be based on the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The Supreme Court also ruled that Ameen’s trial in the Criminal Court may resume from where it was halted by the High Court.
