The Civil Court has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday on private broadcaster Raajje Television’s (RaajjeTV) case to receive damages from the state for an ‘arbitrary’ fine of MVR 500,000.
The station is suing the Maldives Broadcasting Commission, which imposed several hefty fines on claims of slander, citing an anti-defamation law that has now been repealed, and threatening national security.
While RaajjeTV has been made to millions of rufiyaa, the fine in question was imposed over Thimarafushi constituency MP Mohamed Musthafa’s comments at an interview he gave on July 28th, 2017.
The station has also been fined by sums of MVR 1 million, for supposedly defaming Maldives’ outgoing president Abdulla Yameen, and 200,000.
The station condemned the fine, expressing concern over the lack of any apparent procedure to take action or proficient means to ascertain what constitutes slander, or threat to national security.
“In the absence of regulations, the actions levied against Raajje TV this year is strongly believed to be politically motivated”, a statement from the station says.
PRESSRELEASE:RaajjeTV views that the MVR500,000 penalty levied by the MBC on the station was aimed at eliminating free media in the Maldives pic.twitter.com/NoIMU3BoiY
— RaajjeTV (@Raajje_tv) October 8, 2017
RaajjeTV initiated public fundraising drives to pay off the fines; Managing Director Ahmed Saleem has said that any compensation received in its claim for damages will be given to charity, specifically ‘special needs’ aid initiatives.
