The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has pressed criminal charges against three individuals over cases involving the abduction of journalist Ahmed Rilwan and the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed.
The charges were pressed against Ismail Abdul Raheem Adam, Ahmed Ismail and Ahmed Muaz. All charges were submitted to the Criminal Court of the Maldives on August 1.
Ismail Abdul Raheem Adam was charged with assisting an act of terrorism, for his alleged role in the abduction of Ahmed Rilwan in August 2014, and the murder of Yameen Rasheed in April 2017. Meanwhile, Ahmed Ismail and Ahmed Muaz were charged with planning an act of terrorism for their alleged roles in planning both crimes.
The report formulated by the Presidential Commission on Deaths and Disappearances (DDCom) had also indicated the involvement of the three individuals in the abduction of Rilwan. In the report, DDCom stated that Ismail Abdul Raheem had followed Rilwan before his disappearance and that he was previously deported from Turkey after being caught crossing the border to Syria. The report also showed that he had been involved in various extremist activities in the Maldives
Ahmed Rilwan was abducted and murdered but no charges had been pressed before due to the lack of sufficient credible evidence. Moreover, Yameen Rasheed who was stabbed to death at the stairwell of his residence in Male’ City on April 23, 2017. In January this year, the Criminal Court sentenced Ismail Haisham Rasheed and Ahmed Zihan Ismail to life in prison after finding them guilty of murdering Yameen with a sharp object. However, the court found the other four suspects Mohamed Dhifran, Hassan Shifaz, Ismail Rasheed, and Hussain Ziyad not guilty of the charges.
.
