Prosecutor General’s Office (PG Office) has forwarded terrorism charges against the man arrested for making threats on the life of Speaker of Parliament and Former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Ismail Yafis of H. Lightnight, Malé City, was arrested under a court order, from Meedhoo island in Raa atoll on October 23 and is accused of making threats to the Majlis speaker via social media.

The suspect is to have made multiple posts on social media, one of which threatened to carry out an attack “worse than the May 6 terrorist attack”. He was arrested in connection to the latter, a post made on social media platform Facebook. A loose translation of his social media post read that what was done to Abu Jahl on the Day of Badr, would be done to Nasheed if he returned to Maldives. He is to have been making these threatening social media posts since 2020.

Yafis was taken for his remand hearing on September 22, where he repeated the threats against Speaker Nasheed.

The suspect was given 15 days for contempt of court and later an additional 15 days in remand.

Yafis faces three counts of terrorism charges, which have been filed at the Criminal Court on Thursday.

He is being charges for encouraging an act of terrorism which carries a sentence of 10 – 15 years in prison, threatening to carry out an act of terrorism which carries a 4 – 6 year prison sentence as well as supporting a terrorist organization, which if proven against Yafis, carries a jail sentence between 3 – 5 years.

If the suspect is found guilty of all three charges, he stands to face a prison sentence of 17 – 26 years.