MNDF denies involvement in RaajjeTV fine

Defense Minister Adam Shareef Umar has stated that the Maldives Defense Force (MNDF) had not filed any issue with the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (MBC).

RaajjeTV was fined by MBC by MVR 500,000 for broadcasting content that allegedly impacted national security.

Minister Shareef added that they had not filed such a case. However, he confirmed that a case had been filed with the Commission over the live broadcast of Parliament sessions.

MBC said the case was filed with the Commission on August 6th. However, MBC is yet to reveal who had initially filed the case.

MBC President Mohamed Shahyb was unavailable for a comment, when called by RaajjeTV over the issue.

So far, RaajjeTV has been fined by MVR 1.7 million in three separate cases this year.

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.

While the Commission had deemed MP Musthafa’s statements as endangering national security, no investigation had been carried out either by Maldives Police Service (MPS) and Maldives National Defense Force (MNDF). Fiyaz noted that while the Commission had deemed this a national security, it had not even drawn up guidelines on what constitutes as a risk to national security. He also questioned the fairness in penalizing the station while no imposition had been made on who had actually made the statement.