An emergency motion has been moved in Parliament calling on the government to conduct a full investigation into the threats made to journalists.
The motion was submitted by the Member of Parliament for Central Henveiru constituency Ali Azim.
Azim's emergency motion said that while journalists of an online media outlet in Maldives have been given death threats, even before when journalists were given such threats and attacked, there were no full investigations and justice was not served.
Azim said that if action is not taken against such threats to journalists, journalists will not be safe and it could lead to the loss of freedom of the press. Therefore, he called on the government investigating agencies to give this case full attention and take action fast.
The motion was passed by 18 votes in favour.
The Maldives Journalists Association said in a statement that an editor of the online newspaper Dhauru had been threatened to take down the report they did on the Hilton case after the journalist who made the report, Ahmed Naif was threatened.
The journalists have since received threatening messages. A message sent to Naif and the newspaper's senior editor said they would be "met on the street", implying violence. The case has now been reported to the Police.
In the debate on the emergency motion moved by MP Ali Azim, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Eva Abdulla said MDP has worked for press freedom for 18 years and freedom of the press should be more important to MDP than its coalition partner.
Eva said that MDP had worked for the past 18 years not to get a second term but to achieve freedom of the press. And that the results of ignoring the threats received by journalists can be seen in the murders of the journalists Rilwan and Yameen.
The Deputy Speaker, who belongs to Nasheed's Fikurehge Dhirun faction within MDP, said freedom for journalists is a philosophy of MDP and that it is unacceptable that Maldives has fallen 15 places in the Press Freedom Index under the current MDP government.
The motion was submitted by the Member of Parliament for Central Henveiru constituency Ali Azim.
Azim's emergency motion said that while journalists of an online media outlet in Maldives have been given death threats, even before when journalists were given such threats and attacked, there were no full investigations and justice was not served.
Azim said that if action is not taken against such threats to journalists, journalists will not be safe and it could lead to the loss of freedom of the press. Therefore, he called on the government investigating agencies to give this case full attention and take action fast.
The motion was passed by 18 votes in favour.
The Maldives Journalists Association said in a statement that an editor of the online newspaper Dhauru had been threatened to take down the report they did on the Hilton case after the journalist who made the report, Ahmed Naif was threatened.
The journalists have since received threatening messages. A message sent to Naif and the newspaper's senior editor said they would be "met on the street", implying violence. The case has now been reported to the Police.
In the debate on the emergency motion moved by MP Ali Azim, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament Eva Abdulla said MDP has worked for press freedom for 18 years and freedom of the press should be more important to MDP than its coalition partner.
Eva said that MDP had worked for the past 18 years not to get a second term but to achieve freedom of the press. And that the results of ignoring the threats received by journalists can be seen in the murders of the journalists Rilwan and Yameen.
The Deputy Speaker, who belongs to Nasheed's Fikurehge Dhirun faction within MDP, said freedom for journalists is a philosophy of MDP and that it is unacceptable that Maldives has fallen 15 places in the Press Freedom Index under the current MDP government.
