Maldives authorities seize passport of opposition-aligned religious scholar
Sheikh Ilyas, who resides in Malaysia, found out that his passport had been withheld after arriving at the airport to travel back
Sheikh Ilyas Hussain at Addu International Airport on Saturday morning
uthorities have withheld the passport of prominent religious scholar, Sheikh Ilyas Hussain.
Ilyas, who resides in Malaysia, found out that his passport had been withheld after arriving at the airport to travel back. He was to have a stopover in neighboring Sri Lanka.
He was traveling from Addu International Airport, after traveling there to take part in a gathering held by the Joint Opposition on Thursday.
While he has been prohibited from traveling with less than 24 hours to the presidential election, he is registered to vote in Malaysia.
Earlier this month, police held a press conference to announce that Ilyas had been summoned for questioning over ‘lies’ made regarding the murder of the late parliamentarian, Dr. Afrasheem Ali.
Police are accusing him of ‘spreading lies and rumors to create disorder’.
It accused the scholar of linking the lawmaker’s murder to that of nine individuals, adding that ‘this information was not shared with the police at any point in the investigation’.
However, speaking on Afrasheem’s murder, Ilyas had merely questioned on why reports that had surfaced on social media then, including murders of nine youths, were not investigated.
Dr. Afrasheem Ali’s body was found at around 1:30am on October 2, 2012.
While the motive behind his murder still remains unclear, Hussain Humaam was convicted of the murder, and sentenced to death in 2014.
