[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”89552″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][vc_separator color=”black”][vc_column_text]Following the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards in April, journalism award-winner Maldives Independent has undergone a period of change and restructuring.
Former editor Zaheena Rasheed credits the award with increased press coverage outside of the Maldives. Most significantly, Rasheed told Index that the attention from the award convinced their sponsors to continue funding them.
After an Al Jazeera documentary containing interviews with Rasheed was released, the Maldives Independent’s office was attacked and raided by police in September 2016 and Rasheed had to flee for her safety. She has since taken a role at Al Jazeera in Doha, Qatar.
“The job has been very busy, but exciting, especially following a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its neighbours,” Rasheed told Index.
In late April, Yameen Rasheed, a prominent blogger and journalist, who had contributed opinion pieces in the Maldives Independent, was murdered. His death is still on the minds of those at Maldives Independent, which extensively covered the investigation into his murder.
“Yameen was a critical and brave voice who spoke out against injustice despite the crackdown on free speech. His murder has had a chilling effect on free speech in the Maldives and prompted many others to practice self-censorship. I believe he was targeted by religious extremists because of his advocacy for a more tolerant and secular society”, Rasheed said. No information has been released on the identities of the suspects in Rasheed’s murder or what charges they might face.
Maldives Independent journalist Ahmed Rilwan disappeared in August 2014. Despite the international attention these incidents have received, Rasheed is not confident that they will affect the culture of impunity that exists around attacks on critics and freethinkers.
“The biggest concern, as evident by Yameen’s murder and Rilwan’s disappearance, is that there are groups who are willing to kill in the name of Islam. They enjoy impunity because they have the protection of state bodies. State officials support them for two reasons; they think supporting radical groups bolsters their legitimacy, or they also subscribe to these views” Rasheed said.
Rasheed identifies the Maldives Independent’s biggest challenge is securing consistent and sufficient funding, something which Maldives Independent is working on now. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1509444026808-19a50408-3e9b-3″ taxonomies=”9028, 4002, 9136″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Website Maldives Independent, which provides news in English, is one of the few remaining independent media outlets in a country that ranks 112 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. In August 2016 the Maldives passed a law criminalising defamation and empowering the state to impose heavy fines and shut down media outlets for “defamatory” content. In September, Maldives Independent’s office was violently attacked and later raided by the police, after the release of an Al Jazeera documentary exposing government corruption that contained interviews with editor Zaheena Rasheed, who had to flee for her safety. Despite the pressure, the outlet continues to hold the government to account.
Thank you very much for this great honour.
We are so humbled and pleased to be here in London with you and very excited about the coming year as Index fellows.
2017 Freedom of Expression Journalism Award-winning Maldives Independent was presented an illustration created by cartoonist Aseem Trivedi.
The day I received Index’s award email was one of my worst days as editor of the Maldives Independent. That was in January – I had already been living in exile for more than six months. Team morale was low: All of us had been arrested and some of us had received death threats. We had faced a police raid on our office. A member of our team, Ahmed Rilwan, had been abducted and disappeared. The space for independent press was narrowing by the day, but public apathy appeared to be growing. We questioned if we were making an impact. And, to make matters worse, there were questions about continued funding for the website. The odds suddenly felt too great to overcome.
And then, we received Index on Censorship’s email.
This award feels like a lifeline.
Most of our challenges remain the same, but this recognition and the fellowship has renewed and strengthened our resolve to continue reporting, especially on the bleakest of days. Most importantly, we no longer feel so alone.
Tonight I want to honour my colleague, Ahmed Rilwan – who embodies the spirit of speaking truth to power, even in the face of the gravest threats. He’s been missing for nearly 1,000 days now. I want to say tonight, that no matter how long it may take, we will continue the search for him and fight for him.
Thank you again to Index on Censorship.
A big thank you to our former editors, for the support and mentorship, and to the Maldives Independent’s brave team, Naish, Hassan, Jundu, Petu, Saya, Shaff and Thy, for your fearless reporting, and to my fellow journalists in the Maldives, for the solidarity. Thank you.
SAGE Publishing’s Ziyad Marar, 2017 Freedom of Expression Award Journalism Fellow Zaheena Rasheed, Maldives Independent’s Ahmed Naish, CNN London bureau chief Tommy Evans (Photo: Elina Kansikas for Index on Censorship)
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Maldives Independent, the Maldives’ premiere English publication and one of the few remaining independent media outlets, was formed in exile in Sri Lanka in 2004. Read the full profile.
Maldives Independent, the Maldives’ premiere English publication and one of the few remaining independent media outlets, was formed in exile in Sri Lanka in 2004. As the country’s pro-democracy movement began to grow, the staff of the Maldives Independent moved operations back home in 2005.
The publication covers many taboo subjects which are neglected by other press outlets, editor Zaheena Rasheed said, including gender, human rights, political violence, religious extremism and much more. For this, Maldives Independent has faced repeated harassment.
In September 2016, following the release of an Al Jazeera documentary exposing government corruption that contained interviews with Rasheed, the newspaper’s offices were attacked with a machete and later raided by the police. Rasheed believes whoever left a machete stuck to the door of her office is connected with the disappearance of one of her colleagues in 2014, an abduction she said has not been properly investigated by police.
Following an anonymous text Rasheed received saying she would be the next one to disappear, she left the country.
The Maldives ranks 112 out of 180 countries on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. “Journalists in the Maldives have taken unprecedented risks in reporting on human rights, business corruption and abuse of authority. I believe a free press is crucial, essential in protecting human rights,” Rasheed said.
Despite the attacks, arrests and raids, Maldives Independent continues to produce outstanding journalism, holding the Maldives’ corrupt government to account.
See the full shortlist for Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2017 here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content” equal_height=”yes” el_class=”text_white” css=”.vc_custom_1490258749071{background-color: #cb3000 !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_custom_heading text=”Support the Index Fellowship.” font_container=”tag:p|font_size:28|text_align:center” use_theme_fonts=”yes” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indexoncensorship.org%2Fsupport-the-freedom-of-expression-awards%2F|||”][vc_column_text]
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”108902″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Index on Censorship calls on the Maldivian authorities to step up their investigation and pursue the individuals behind the murders of the journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla and blogger Yameen Rasheed.
“The government of the Maldives must do all it can to uncover and bring to justice all those responsible for the murders of Ahmed and Yameen. Their pursuit of truth in the public interest led to their murders at the hands of criminals bent on silencing their work,” Perla Hinojosa, Index Fellowships & Advocacy Officer, said.
Rilwan’s disappearance in 2014 shook the Maldives, when he was forced into a car at knifepoint outside his home on the island of Hulhumale and taken in a boat out to sea where he was killed, according to Husnu Suood, the head of a Maldives presidential commission set up to investigate the case. Suood said the people who murdered Rilwan, also murdered his friend Rasheed, who was leading a campaign to find Rilwan.
At the time of his abduction, Rilwan was reporting for the news website now known as the Maldives Independent, which was named the winner of an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards Fellowship in journalism in 2017.[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1567498421448-a2c7a885-6928-8″ taxonomies=”6534″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
