Male [Maldives], April 29: Police in the Maldives have raided the offices of a critical news outlet and barred its editors from leaving the country after it published a documentary alleging an affair between President Mohamed Muizzu and a former aide.
The government on Tuesday defended the operation against Adhadhu Online as a lawful response to what Muizzu has described as "baseless lies".
Police were "right to investigate and raid the news outlet over false [adultery] allegations against the President," Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusaan said in a post on X.
"Press freedom is guaranteed, but not a free pass to destroy reputations with lies," he said. The raid took place late on Monday night, with police seizing laptops and storage devices, hours after Muizzu called on "relevant authorities to press charges against all parties who spread such false information".
The documentary, titled 'Aisha' and posted on Adhadhu's X and Facebook accounts on March 28, featured an anonymised interview with a woman who claimed she had had a relationship with Muizzu.
Source: Qatar Tribune
