Maldives Broadcom slams another MVR 500k penalty on RaajjeTV
Third penalty for RaajjeTV
Staff of RaajjeTV outside of premises
The Broadcasting Commission of the Maldives has once again slammed RaajjeTV with another massive fine.
The station was fined by MVR 500,000 or US$ 32,425.42.
In a letter sent to RaajjeTV Chief Operating Officer Hussain Fiyaz Moosa, the Commission said RaajjeTV was penalized for broadcasting a statement made by Thimarafushi Constituency MP Mohamed Musthafa on July 28th during a live program.
The letter said that MP Musthafa had on the program, spoken in a manner that encouraged to overthrow the current Government, encourage to carry out an illegal act, encourage a loss to the legal government and encouraged action that negatively impacted on national security and the safety and security of the elected President of the Maldives. The fine, the letter said, was levied after investigating the case.
In response to the case, RaajjeTV noted the Commission had raised three points as having violated broadcasting ethics. The second and third points, the station said were starkly different to that what was said by MP Musthafa and reported by RaajjeTV.
The hefty fine was slammed under the controversial Defamation Bill.
The controversial bill passed in 2016 had come under criticism both locally and internationally. The bill has been used to penalized RaajjeTV in the three instances. The station was first fined by the Commission by MVR 200,000 and MVR 1 million the second time.
