Maldives / Asia

Dear President Yameen: The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent international press freedom organization, is writing to express its concern about a Maldivian journalist who has been missing for a year and to call on your government to ensure a credible and independent investigation into his disappearance.

March 26, 2015, New York–Authorities in the Maldives should immediately release three journalists detained this week while covering political demonstrations in the archipelago nation, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

New York, August 19, 2014–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the safety of a journalist in the Maldives who has been missing since early August and calls on authorities to thoroughly investigate his disappearance.

New York, October 7, 2013–Authorities in the Maldives should conduct a thorough and efficient investigation into an arson attack on the offices of a TV news station in Male, the capital, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Sun Media reported that one of its journalists was briefly detained by police for photographing a government building in Malé, the capital, on March 26, 2013. The media group is based in the Maldives and covers local and world news for online, print, and radio.

Journalists faced numerous attacks during a tumultuous year marked by the ouster of President Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader. Nasheed opponents attacked TV stations and journalists in the capital, Malé, after protests against his government escalated in early year. Nasheed, a former human rights defender and political prisoner who was elected president…