Police have removed Raajje Television’s billboard petition calling for the obstruction of justice charges against four of its staff to be withdrawn, on the grounds that it breaches public peace.

Witnesses claim having seen Special Operations (SO) officers removing the billboard, attached to the exterior of the station’s office. The police were unable to load the billboard, and so had torn the canvas from its wooden frame.

The Maldives Police Service’s (MPS) media official said that it had received ‘complaints’ over its display, and was removed because it ‘breached public peace and decency’ and that ‘messages it conveys are inappropriate’. 

The police had neglected to inform the station of the removal, which Raajje Television has since condemned and branded it an ‘ignoble’ act.

The billboard depicts photos of the four staff that were charged with obstruction of justice, an allegation that the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has described to be a politicized move detrimental to freedom of press. Its signatories simply support that the charges are unfair and restrict the rights of the press. 

The staff depited on the billboard are journalists with the station, both of whom have been fined by MVR 28,500 for ‘obstruction of justice’ after they were arrested while covering a bomb scare in Malé City, along with their cameraman, who was fined by MVR 3,000.