Press freedom in the Maldives has been in steady decline in the Maldives, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) placing Maldives three ranks below its position the year before.

The RSF’s annual index was published on Wednesday, where Maldives ranked as low as 120, right below Nigeria. Maldives was given a global score of 37.95.

This score puts the nation in with 27 percent of countries, where the situation has been decidedly labelled ‘bad’ and appropriately colour-coded red. The ranks 180 nations in their global survey, with North Korea having consistently been ranked at the bottom.

The international press monitor noted prosecution of independent media under the defamation law, which RaajjeMV has faced as well, and the ‘police refusal to investigate the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan’, who was reportedly abducted in 2014.

The RSF also noted the failure to adequately address the murder of writer Yameen Rasheed in 2017. Further, it notes violence and threats gangs and fanatics against local journalists which ‘poisonously’ causes self-censorship. RSF said that the impunity granted to those behind these threats have forced journalists to operate within a climate of fear.