Dhiraagu admits to giving police access to Thayyib's number

Dhiraagu has admitted to giving Maldives Police Service access to opposition activist, Thayyib Shaheem’s phone.

Thayyib had, on 7th March, sent a letter to the telecom giant, accusing it of reselling the number he had been using, and seeking clarification on the matter.

Responding to him, Dhiraagu said that it had provided the police access to Thayyib’s phone, after being ordered to do so the Criminal Court. It further said that an employee from the company had called Thayyib, and informed him of the matter.

“Dhiraagu follows the Maldives’ rules and regulations on telecommunications operations, as well as per the license granted by the Communications Authority of Maldives,” reads the letter.

It further noted that it does know any further details on the matter, except the court’s order to grant the police access to Thayyib’s phone.

Thayyib is an avid social media activist of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), and police had on multiple occasions summoned him for questioning, even seizing his phone, over the information he posts on the social media site.

While he currently resides in Sri Lanka, as a number of opposition activists, on 6th March he had learnt that his phone had been disconnected. He has made a number of allegations over the disconnection, including that passwords of his various accounts had been changed, using the number.