The state has made available a broad set of freedoms for the press so long as coverage is in adherence to law, the Ministry of Home Affairs has said. 

In a statement on Wednesday, to commemorate the international day for press freedom, the Ministry had commended the work of local journalists. 

The statement further says that the free press is an essential part of any democratic society, and that journalists play an important role in fostering public awareness.

The Ministry had further said that the government fully supports press freedom – to the extent that it does not violate the constitution – and guaranteed that it would serve to defend liberties granted by the article on freedom of thought and expression.

The government had also reiterated its commitment to article 33 of the constitution, which defends against accusations and libel, and said it would uphold the criminalization of defamation.

Despite the government’s claims, the Freedom House’s report on the freedom of press for 2017, which classifies nations based on whether the press is ‘Free’, ‘Partly Free’, or ‘Not Free’, placed Maldives in the latter category for the first time – 4 points behind the year before. 

Freedom House said that the Maldives ranked so low because of ‘arbitrary arrests and police harassment’.

Further, the Reporters Without Borders had last week placed Maldives’ press freedom index for 2016 five points below that of the year before.

The organization also noted prosecution under the defamation law and ‘police refusal to investigate the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan’, a journalist that was abducted in 2014.