Police remove people from Parliament House area

The extraordinary sitting of the Parliament has been scheduled at 4:00 pm today and police have begun removing people, including opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members from the Parliament House area.

Since 8:30 am, journalists from various outlets have been protesting outside Parliament, chanting against the bill’s passage.

Even though an extraordinary sitting has been scheduled for today, the agenda is yet to be announced by Parliament.

Parliament's highest priority right now is the Media Regulation Bill, proposed by Thulhaadhoo MP Abdul Hannan AbuBakur. The bill, while proposed by an independent, was defended by supermajority PNC in Parliament, has been reviewed along with its amendments and approved last night by the Parliament's  Independent Institutions Committee. It is being theorized that today's sitting will have members vote on the bill in question.  

Journalists have been saying that the media bill was put together in such a way that it would obstruct press freedom with journalists having presented the issue to the President as well. Even with journalists presenting a petition with a major amount of signatures to both the President and the Parliament, the processes regarding the bill has been hastened without any regard to the petition.

22 local and international organisations, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), have called for the bill to be withdrawn, citing it would deal a severe blow to press freedom in Maldives.

However, the government maintains that with amendments proposed by the Attorney General’s Office, the bill will undergo significant improvements. The government also stated that the bill will not obstruct journalists and media organizations in conducting journalism freely.