Social media activist Ahmed Ashraf has been summoned for questioning by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Commission on Investigation of Murders and Enforced Disappearances.
Ashraf, widely known by his online persona ‘Shumba Gong’, has confirmed this, although he claims he does not know the reason for him being summoned.
RaajjeMV understands that Ashraf is being called for questioning over the murder of MP Afraasheem Ali, and the disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.
Following Rilwan’s disappearance, Ashraf had used his Twitter account to make a number of claims about the journalist’s fate.
In 2015, Ashraf sent out a tweet claiming that Rilwan had been drowned, which he has since deleted, in turn claiming that he only wrote the tweet at the instruction of former president Abdulla Yameen.
Ashraf’s tweet says, ‘[President] Yameen called me on Viber and instructed me to say Rilwan has been drowned. It is something I did at the orders of [President] Yameen. He then left to China’.
Rilwan kandufahthaafa ey ohnaanee liyaashey bunee RYameen aharen ah viber in gulhaafa. Ei RYameen order ah kuruvi kameh. Dhen fury China ah.
— ޝުމްބާ Shumba (@ShumbaGong) November 1, 2015
The commission has been investigating 25 cases of suspicious deaths and disappearances, and last week summoned Zahid Rameez who in 2012 used his Twitter account to threatened to ‘get rid of’ blogger Yameen Rasheed.
The tweets in question were death threats made to Yameen Rasheed in 2011 and 2012. Threatening to kill a person is a serious offense under the law, and legal consequences will follow. Urge everyone to refrain from resorting to such acts on online platforms or otherwise. https://t.co/SFg2kM26W7
— Commission on Disappearances and Deaths (@DdcomMdv) April 10, 2019
Zahid, in his tweet, said that Rilwan is ‘rid of’ and said that Yameen ‘maybe next’.
