An emergency motion was filed in Parliament on Monday over the death threats made against Senior Associate Editor Ahmed Naif and Managing Editor Ahmed Zahir (Hiriga Zahir) of 'Dhauru' news.
The motion was submitted by Central-Henveiru MP Ali Azim, a member of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)'s "Fikurrege Dhirun" faction, over the death threats against the two journalists.
Some members of the faction had earlier criticised journalists for allegedly taking bribes from the government in the run-up to the party's recent internal elections.
During the parliament session, 19 members took part in the vote to debate the issue further; all voted in favour, except one.
MP Azim highlighted that senior journalists were threatened over a report they had written about Maldives Development Alliance (MDA) leader and business tycoon Ahmed Siyam, with whom the government plans to form a coalition for the 2023 presidential election.
The journalists received messages threatening to be attacked and killed.
The emergency motion called for investigating agencies to pay full attention to the case and take immediate action.
Debating the case, members of Parliament Speaker Mohamed Nasheed's "Fikurrege Dhirun" faction said they do not believe the case could be investigated, alleging that the government's coalition partner will be more important than journalists for the state. The members of the faction heavily criticised MDA and the government.
During the debate, members of the MDP's second faction expressed their concern that the police had not taken threats made against journalists seriously in the past, resulting in the murder of journalist Ahmed Rilwan and blogger Yameen Rasheed.
They urged the police not to neglect the threats against the journalists and expressed their concern that the police institution was being neglectful in its duties.
The police have already launched an investigation into the threats made against journalists.
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