MJA concerned over recent attacks on journalists

The Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has expressed concern over recent attack on two journalists, and has alleged that such attacks are increasing.

The association said it had reports that a journalist from newspaper ‘Dhiislam’ was attacked when he attended a show held at Thajudheen School.

‘’He was physically attacked and he was forced to delete the photos he took,’’ the MJA said in a press release. ‘’It is unacceptable and we condemn it.’’

MJA said Youth TV’s assistant manager Ibrahim Muaz was dismissed from his job, which it said was due to “a political issue.”

It also called everyone to provide opportunity for the conduct of independent journalism in the Maldives.

Muaz was dismissed after he allegedly leaked a picture of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) parliamentary group’s leader and MP ‘Reeko’ Moosa Manik sitting inside the Maldives National Broadcasting Corporation (MNBC)’s library going through the archives of videos of former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The picture was leaked to local news outlet ‘Sun online’ and a source told the paper that Moosa visits the MNBC library very often and takes speeches and video clips of Gayoom and senior officials of the former government to the president’s office.

Sun online that time reported that in the picture Moosa was viewing the interview given by former president following the death of Evan Naseem in 2003, who died inside Maafushi Jail.

However, MNBC told the media that the dismissal of Muaz was not related to the leaked pictures of Moosa.