Rilwan killed by extremist group, confirms commission

Presidential commission on deaths and disappearances has stated that their initial investigation shows that journalist Ahmed Rilwan was killed by religious extremists.

Head of the commission, Husnu Suood, on Sunday gave a briefing on their latest findings on the case of Rilwan.

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

In August 2016, two years later, police confirmed that he was abducted and that one of the men caught trailing Rilwan on CCTV footage had been identified as Mohamed Suaid, who was arrested but released by the Criminal Court in November 2014. Shortly after, Suaid left to fight in Syria with the brother of one of the suspects in the case, Aalif Rauf. Authorities stated that both died in battle.

Aalif and Mohamed Nooradeen were charged, but were acquitted last year citing insufficient evidence.

At the press briefing, Husnu Suood said that they have taken statements from witnesses on the night of Rilwan’s disappearance, who heard a scream and saw someone being taken into a red car. Suood said that one of the men in the car was Aalif Rauf and that Rilwan was placed in the trunk and was driven to a waiting dingy, which took him to another vessel.

He said that the commission determined that it was Rilwan who was forced into the red car on that night, by taking into account the threat to his life at the time, his last known whereabouts and his later disappearance.

The commission also received information that two officers in the police service attempted to fabricate evidence that Rilwan had gone to fight in Syria, by trying to obtain a copy of his passport from the Immigration Controller, who has given his statement on the incident to the commission.

Suood said that former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb had also requested senior defence force officers to obtain a copy of Rilwan’s passport and trying to fabricate evidence to show that Rilwan died in Syria. Adeeb had also sent a message to then Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Didi, requesting to release a suspect in Rilwan’s case, and that the suspect was released after the message.

Suood said that the police service had been surveilling Rilwan even before his death and that there were inconsistencies with the police service’s statement that it was because of the threats against him.

He also said that on 24 June 2014, the police service received an intel report of an attempt to kidnap someone in Hulhumale’ and take him to a dingy, which was months before Rilwan’s kidnapping. This report was changed by the police service’s political section.

Suood said that they are discussing with the Prosecutor General on charging Adeeb and the officers involved.

At the press briefing, Suood also said that then president Abdulla Yameen had tried to divert the police investigation by sending officers to practitioners of black magic to find Rilwan.