Rilwan's abduction: PG denies reports that state did not appeal the acquittal of suspects

The Prosecutor General (PG) Office has denied reports that it had not appealed Criminal Court’s decision to acquit suspects in the abduction of journalist Ahmed Rilwan.

The two suspects -Aalif Rauf and Mohamed Nooradeen- were acquitted on 2nd August 2018, on the grounds of 'insufficient evidence' and the PG Office says that an appeal case was submitted the same day.

After being summoned to the parliament’s judiciary committee on July 22, PG Aishath Bisham reiterated that an appeal request had been made at the High Court.

While Thursday marked five years since Rilwan’s abduction, his family had asked the High Court about the appeal process via a letter. The court is to have responded that it does not have any appeal cases or appeal requests related to Rilwan’s abduction case.

The PG Office denied this via Twitter, emphasizing that they had filed an appeal request the same day the suspects were acquitted.

The tweet further noted that the High Court had responded to this request four days later, on 6th August 2018.

During questioning by the judiciary committee, PG Bisham admitted that the investigation into Rilwan’s disappearance had not completed when the case was forwarded to prosecution, adding that police had acted as such “as they had charge suspects within a given period following the enactment of the Criminal Procedure Act.”

She added that she had shared concerns over this with then President Abdulla Yameen and Police Commission Hussain Waheed, and shared a copy of her letter to the former president with the parliament committee.

Rilwan’s abduction is one of the over 20 cases being investigated by the Presidential Commission on Murders and Enforced Disappearances.

Commission President Husnu Suood on Thursday revealed that a “terrorist group” is behind Rilwan’s abduction, adding that they are thinking of releasing details of the group this August.

Suood further noted that the commission’s findings have been shared with Rilwan’s family as they are “entitled to know what happened to him.”

Rilwan was last seen purchasing a ticket to Hulhumalé at the ferry terminal in capital city Malé on August 8th, 2014.

Police confirmed Rilwan’s abduction two years later, in August 2016. It had revealed that one of the men caught trailing Rilwan on CCTV footage had been identified as Mohamed Suaid. He was arrested but released by the Criminal Court in November 2014.

Shortly after, he is to have left the Maldives for Syria with the brother of one of the suspects in the case, Aalif Rauf. Both are to have “died in battle.”