Thursday
25th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) Deputy Leader Ahmed Shiyam has stated that President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih is actually terrified of journalists, as his administration issues summons on journalists and ratifies laws that compels journalists to disclose their sources.
The Evidence Act was passed in spite of journalists protesting the Act, citing that the law would compromise sources. Journalists had protested outside the Parliament as well as raising the issue formally.
The government paid no attention to the concerns and pushed ahead with ratifying the bill. The first summons on a journalist was issued less than 24 hours after the bill was ratified.
In a tweet posted, Shiyam said the Government’s intentions were quite clear – muzzle and silence journalists, especially those ones exposing the corruption and excesses of this administration.
Shiyam said that President Solih was terrified of journalists.
Dhiyares’ Chief Editor Ahmed Azaan was summoned for questioning on the expose written in Dhiyares over the loopholes in Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) database.
Dhiyares had reported that the loophole on the hospital’s website allowed unfettered access to personal medical records. This was first reported to Dhiyares by an IT expert. As a result of this loophole, two years’ worth of private health records are now public, as shown by the expert.
Dhiyares had alerted the hospital when the case was first raised. The report on the issue was published only after all relevant agencies were alerted. While Dhiyares had alerted the public on the loophole, the paper took care not to publish details on how the backdoor can be accessed.