German Ambassador Joern Rohde met with RaajjeTV journalist Hussain Hassan on Wednesday.
Hassan traveled to Sri Lanka for medical treatment on Sunday, having sustained serious injuries during an arrest while covering an opposition rally last Friday.
In a tweet sent after, Ambassador Rohde noted that Hassan was in Colombo for medical purposes ‘after being injured by security forces for covering opposition rally in Malé last Friday’.
Noting that freedom of media, assembly and association are the ‘pillars of democracy,’ he added that the Maldivian government ‘needs to respect media freedom’.
Pillars of Democracy are freedom of media, assembly and association. MAL Gvt. needs to respect media freedom. Just met @Raajje_tv journalist Hassan who was in CMB for medical treatment after being injured by security forces for covering opposition rally in Male last Friday pic.twitter.com/5occwJLHCI
— Joern Rohde (@joern_rohde) February 21, 2018
RaajjeTV said that Hassan recounted the events that unfolded on Friday to the Ambassador, as well as the threats and restrictions to free media in the Maldives.
