Police negligence unverified in Rilwan's murder: NIC

National Integrity Commission (NIC) has revealed that there is no evident negligence from Maldives Police Service (MPS) into the investigation of murdered Journalist Ahmed Rilwan’s case.

This comes in response to a letter the Minivan News Journalist’s family addressed to the commission on 29 October 2014, nearly five years back.

The commission stated that they have not received any proof or indications linking police negligence to the drawn-out investigation of Rilwan’s murder, thus far.

Following this, Rilwan’s family has expressed concern for the much-delayed response.

Assuring the family that there is no negligence on the institution’s part, police earlier guaranteed them that harsh action will be taken against anyone who is proven guilty for negligence or involvement in his murder.

While 15 passports were withheld in the case in mid-September and High Court Judge Hassan Ali was suspended earlier this week, President of the Commission on Disappearances and Deaths Husnu Al Suood confirmed that Rilwan was in fact abducted, taken onboard a boat and killed at sea by religious extremists this month.

Judge Ali had during his time as Immigration Controller, allegedly met with two Intelligence police officers who wanted to discuss concealing Rilwan’s murder by forging a passport to prove to authorities that Rilwan had flown to Syria for battle.

Rilwan was last seen purchasing a ticket to the Hulhumalé ferry from capital city Malé, on 8 August 2014. Two years later in 2016, the police had confirmed that Rilwan 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. Him and Aalif Rauf, a brother of one of the suspects in the case had been pronounced dead in battle, after having left to Syria shortly after.