Police misled public, Children's Ombudsperson never ordered probe into case linked to First Couple’s son

It has been revealed that the Maldives Police Service (MPS) misled the public when they claimed that they were conducting a criminal investigation against main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) members Mariyam “Mandhy” Zubair and Ahmed “Maaz” Saleem based on a case submitted to the Children's Ombudsperson's office.

The police institution on Tuesday confirmed that they began investigating the case, which involves allegations of speaking in a manner that undermines the dignity of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's son, upon the instruction of Children's Ombudsperson Niumath Shafeeg's office.

However, the Children's Ombudsperson's office has issued a statement denying this claim. The statement said that they have not submitted any such case to the police institution for investigation.

The statement from the Children's Ombudsperson's office said that the letter sent to the police department from their office did not include any instructions on how the department should act, nor did it request a criminal investigation regarding the matter.

Instead, the statement said that the letter sent to the police institution only requested to ensure that necessary measures are taken to prevent the disclosure of information that could compromise children's dignity during protests.

Clarifying the issue after some news outlets reported that the court had ordered to take photos of Mandhy and Saleem, the police institution on Monday issued a statement clarifying that photos of their genitals would not be taken. The police institution also stated that no one would be photographed nude, under the order.

The police institution revealed that they requested to take body and voice samples in connection with the case to make comparisons to determine if a person seen in footage or video is a specific individual, or to identify if a voice belongs to a particular person.

In connection with the series of protests carried out by MDP, several figures in the party's leadership have been summoned to the police and had their statements taken on multiple occasions.

In connection with the case, in addition to Mandhy, many figures in MDP's leadership have been summoned to the police on several occasions and had their statements were taken.