Maldives police raid Adhadhu Online over documentary alleging President Muizzu's affair
A four-hour operation targeting the opposition-aligned news outlet follows the publication of a documentary claiming a sexual relationship between the President and a former aide.
Police in the Maldives conducted a raid on the offices of Adhadhu Online late on Monday night, seizing laptops, hard drives, and storage devices following the publication of a documentary alleging an affair between President Mohamed Muizzu and a former aide. The operation targeted the opposition-aligned news outlet hours after the President called for charges against those spreading what he described as "baseless lies".
The government defended the incursion as a lawful response to the charge of qazf, or the false accusation of adultery, which carries a potential prison term of one year and seven months and up to 80 lashes. Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan stated on social media that press freedom is not a free pass to destroy reputations with falsehoods, asserting that authorities were right to investigate the outlet over the allegations contained in the film titled Aisha.
Despite the search warrant authorising only the inspection of premises, police seized computers and storage devices from journalists, marketing staff, and administrators during the four-hour operation. Adhadhu CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa described the seizure of personal devices as unprecedented, noting that the raid occurred without prior questioning from investigators in the four weeks since the documentary was released on 28 March.
Two editors, Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and Hassan Mohamed, were immediately barred from leaving the country with their passports frozen until 26 July. A separate criminal court warrant issued after the raid cites a police intelligence report alleging the editors were planning to flee the nation as the basis for the travel ban, though Moosa argued the basis for the order made no sense given their movements prior to the incident.
The editors were summoned to appear before police on Wednesday to address the situation. Moosa condemned the actions as an attack on press freedom driven by government influence, asserting that the investigation would not silence the outlet's work. He maintained that regardless of government attempts to stop Adhadhu, the organisation's voice and reporting capabilities remain intact.
The raid has drawn sharp criticism from journalists' groups, with the Committee to Protect Journalists characterising the move as an attempt to criminalise investigative journalism under the guise of religious and national interests. The Maldives Journalists Association stated the government is crossing a clear red line and demanded an immediate end to the intimidation of journalists and the suppression of press freedom.
