Yemeni arrested over terrorism still in police custody, FBI involved in investigation

Family of a Yasir Yahya, a Yemeni individual apprehended in Maldives since March, has said that he is still in police custody and that Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is involved in the investigation.

An Arabic teacher at Ahmadhiyya and Arabiyya Schools, Yahya was arrested on March 3 on terrorism allegations.

Following the arrest, Maldives Police Service (MPS) had handed him over to the Maldives Immigration. He has been detained in the Immigration Detention Center in Hulhumalé since then.

Speaking to RaajjeMV, Yahya's wife said that FBI officers had been brought to Maldives to question him, and that the investigation is being led by the Maldives National Defence Foce (MNDF) and Maldives Immigration.

She added that her husband is being "coerced into doing somethings".

Yahya's wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest, and has since given birth. While the child is now five months old, his wife said that officials of the Maldives Immigration have informed them that Yahya will not be released.

She added that the investigators want him to confess "to whatever they are accusing him of".

Noting that it has been six months since his arrest, Yahya's family said that authorities are yet to disclose the reason for his arrest, or the evidence against him.

RaajjeMV understands that the FBI had tried to take Yahya with them, but that he had cut himself with a razor in protest. While this took place on 2nd August, RaajjeMV has obtained photos of Yahya that show the said scars.

Scars from where Yasir Yahya cut himself after learning of FBI's plans to take him with them

According to his arrest warrant, Yahya was arrested on terrorism allegations and is suspected of recruiting locals to international terrorist militias. The warrant was based on evidence and an intelligence report compiled by the police.

Yahya had faced pressure from the authorities prior to his arrest as well; work had been carried out to cancel in marriage visa and the Maldives Immigration had placed him on its watchlist.

Furthermore, he was summoned to the Immigration in February, and was ordered to leave the country.

Following his arrest on March 3, his marriage visa was cancelled.

Yasir Yahya was arrested two weeks ahead of Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz’s visit to the Maldives. The trip was later cancelled. King Salman, who was then defense minister, had in 2015 ordered the bombardment of the Saudi-Yemen border on the grounds of eliminating the Houthirebel movement.

Ahead of King Salman’s visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian authorities had announced that it had thwarted a ‘Yemeni’ assassination attempt against him which was to be executed through ‘a vehicle-borne improvised explosive’.