President of the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) has admitted to using the Anti-Defamation and Freedom of Expression “to target a certain TV channel.”
Mohamed Shaheeb made the confession after being presented to the parliament’s committee on independent institutions, on Wednesday evening.
RaajjeTV was fined a total of MVR 3.7 million since the draconian law was passed in August 2016, with reports that Broadcom members had worked to shut down the station.
Shaheeb confessed to this at the committee meeting as well, saying that it was the other commission members that were behind this.
Expressing “disappointment” over this, Shaheeb further claimed that he did not have a hand in the matter. He said that he had merely “followed the majority’s decisions.”
He said that the issue is that the members “are not faithful.”
While the Broadcom president also claimed that some of the members had been subjected “to undue influence,” he said that this was revealed to him earlier on Wednesday as they were prepping for the parliament committee meeting.
However, Shaheeb said that he “was not influenced by anyone.”
We also saw the Broadcom members pointing fingers at each other at Wednesday’s committee meeting, with member Aminath Saraahath Izzath saying that Shaheeb had the choice of resigning “if things were not going accordingly”.
Shaheeb said that him resigning was “not a solution.”
“Even if I had resigned, things would have been conducted the same. I do not believe that the commission’s rulings were accurate”Mohamed Shaheeb
While Shaheeb had claimed that the Broadcom members had been influenced, they denied this at the meeting.
However, member Zeena Zahir said that two parliamentarians at the time- MPs Abdulla Yameen and Ahmed Mubeen- had called and questioned her on why RaajjeTV was still running.
She is to have told them “it cannot be done as such.”
While a former RaajjeTV journalists, Mohamed Wisam, was elected to parliament this April, he now sits on the committee on independent institutions.
MP Wisam questioned the members on why these claims were not publicized before, and called for their immediate resignation.
Also at the meeting, South-Galolhu constituency MP Mickail Naseem submitted a motion to dismiss Broadcom’s former and current vice presidents, Abdulla Sofwan and Fathimath Zaina respectively.
Members of the committee heavily criticized the Maldives Broadcasting Commission, and asked it to forward all details related to the fines imposed under the anti-defamation law.
Repealing the law was one of the first tasks by the incumbent president.
