"CP Hameed worked with MDN during time away from police service"

Maldives Police Service (MPS) says that Commissioner Mohamed Hameed has worked with Maldivian Democracy Network (MDN) “in his own capacity,” denying accusations that he was involved in its controversial 2016 report.

The police said this in response to a tweet, claiming that Hameed was the deputy chair at MDN prior to his appointment as police commissioner in March this year. The tweet further alleged that there cannot be a credible investigation into the MDN report, with him at the head of the institution.

The police said that Hameed had “in his own capacity, for a short time being” worked with MDN “during the time he was away from the police service,” adding that he had left the group “prior to his appointment as commissioner.”

Hameed was dismissed from the police service following allegations of disclosing classified information, regarding the events surrounding the unexpected resignation of former president Mohamed Nasheed in February 2012. Civil Court had, back in 2013, ruled to reinstate Hameed, further ordering the police to pay Hameed's salary and allowances from this dismissal date of 7th August 2012, to restore the gap of his absence from service. However, police refused to reinstate him and had instead filed an appeal case at the High Court, which overturned the Civil Court ruling. In December 2018, the Supreme Court ordered his reinstatement.

While the MDN report was compiled in 2016 during Hameed’s time away from police service, police denied that he was involved with the group at the time.

Further noting that the police commissioner “was not involved in compiling the MDN report that is currently being investigated,” the police assured that the institution “will do everything necessary” in its investigation.

While MDN’s ‘Preliminary Report on Radicalization in Maldives’ report was released in 2016, it has faced backlash over the language used with excerpts from the report being circulated on social media recently.

The government has since to imposed a “temporary cessation” of MDN’s activities, and President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said that the issue will be "thoroughly" investigated and that "appropriate measures will be taken as stipulated under the Maldives constitution.”

MDN has apologized for the language in its report, adding that it will be revised “with assistance from religious scholars.”

With calls to ban the group, the group has revealed that its officials have been receiving death threats since the issue emerged, and called on authorities to take legal action against those responsible for these acts.