The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has condemned the arrest of a journalist who was at the scene to cover a protest held by the opposition coalition in Malé on Thursday night.
The Special Operations (SO) unit of the Maldives Police Service, which had gone to break up the protest, arrested the journalist from 'Avas' while he was wearing the identification indicating that he was a journalist. However, the police are yet to ascertain the reason behind his arrest.
MJA condemns the arrest of a journalist of @avasmv who was covering the opposition demonstration in Male’ last night. The union is deeply concerned that journalists covering the protests are constantly being harassed, tortured by the @PoliceMv 1/2 pic.twitter.com/nBV8COQlZd
— Maldives Journalists Association (@mjamaldives) March 17, 2023
In their statement, the MJA said they were "deeply concerned" that journalists involved in covering the protests were being subjected to constant harassment and abuse by the police.
Therefore, the organisation had asked the police and the government to make sure that journalists covering these rallies would be safe.
The MJA has also expressed concern about the rise in cases of violations of media rights so far this year. According to the MJA, eight such cases have been reported so far.
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