While the parliament’s committee on national security and foreign relations’ meetings regarding the amendment to the anti-terrorism act were held behind closed doors, its chair MP Ibrahim Shareef has denied that the meetings on the matter are being held in secret.

The amendments, proposed on behalf of the government by South-Henveiru constituency MP Hussain Shameem, were accepted by parliament at its extraordinary sitting on Sunday and forwarded to the committee for further review.

The committee on national security and foreign relations has met twice since, on Monday and Tuesday, and both these meetings were held behind closed doors.

When reached for a comment on the matter, Maradhoo constituency MP Shareef said that the meetings were held in secret as they were working on “some administrative issues.” He added that the meetings will be held in public after this work is completed.

While the committee chair claims this, officials from the Attorney General’s Office, Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), Maldives Police Service (MPS) and the Ministry of Home Affairs were summoned to Monday’s meeting.

The amendments to the anti-terrorism act authorises police “to arrest terror suspects without a warrant, conduct invasive body searches, deny private consultations with legal counsel and detain suspects for 48 hours before taking them before a judge.”

Some members of the main ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have expressed concerns over the changes, with its parliamentary leader MP Ali Azim noting that the main concern was over granting powers to arrest suspects and enter private property without a court order.

They have requested a meeting with the attorney general to seek explanations and clarify reasons for the proposed changes.