The Maldives Immigration on Thursday said that the self-proclaimed faith healer Mala Ali has been blacklisted and prohibited from entering the country.
Maldives Immigration’s media officer, Mifthah Mohamed, confirmed the news.
The Iraqi-born physician, Mala Ali arrived in the Maldives on January 29 on a tourist visa. During his visit, he claimed to have cured several patients who were visually impaired, deaf, or mute by reciting verses of the Quran.
After an inquiry at the request of the Ministry of Health, it was discovered that Mala had violated the terms of his tourist visa during his stay in the Maldives, Mifthah said.
Maldives Immigration did not specify how long Mala would be blacklisted.
The Ministry of Health launched an investigation into the matter after Mala left the country. The investigation revealed that the healer would recite verses of the Quran near the patient and hit the affected areas on the patient's body.
While some patients claimed to have recovered from their hearing impairments, their families said the improvement was only temporary.
Mala posted on one of his social media accounts, claiming to have helped several hearing-impaired patients in the Maldives.
The "faith healer" has been accused of swindling thousands of patients in several different countries; many of these countries have already blacklisted him. He was previously arrested by Saudi authorities for a similar incident, and he was also deported from Turkey for fraud.
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