Islam is not meant to be used as a weapon and doing is so extremely dangerous, said Malé ’s deputy mayor Shifa Mohamed.

Shifa Mohamed said at an opposition rally at Kunooz, the Jumhooree Party’s headquarters, on Tuesday that it is a shame that religion being used as a means to encourage violence is now being seen in the Maldives.

She had then advised the general public to refrain to speculating over those responsible for the brutal assassination of pro-democracy activist Yameen Rasheed on Sunday.

“Islam is not meant to be a weapon, religion is not meant for this, using it this way can become extremely dangerous and is unacceptable” she said.

Further, Shifa said that religion being used to justify violent crimes is equally reprehensible, noting the murder of Evan Naseem in prison and missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan – who were both described as having made remarks against Islam after their death and disappearance, respectively.  

She said Yameen Rasheed had been a firm believer in the value of human rights for the nation, and that he primarily expressed this in his writings.

“He wrote calling for human rights, and he made no stances against anything nor favoured any one party, so we really need to stop this, in order to work together and move forward” Shifa added.