President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Thursday ratified the bill to repeal the Freedom of Speech and Defamation Act, which was passed during former President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's regime.
This is the first bill ratified by President Solih since taking office on November 17. With his signature, the Act is void effective immediately.
The bill to repeal the contentious Defamation Act was passed by the Parliament on November 14. Although the parliament took this vote during Yameen's presidency, he did not ratify it.
President Solih had pledged to repeal the Act during his presidential campaign.
Under the Defamation Act, several actions were taken against local media groups, notably Raajje TV which was fined fives times and had to pay a total of MVR 3.7 million.
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