Hearings begin in criminal case against Adhadhu officials Fiyaz and Hassan

Hearings began on Wednesday in the criminal case against top officials from local news outlet Adhadhu.

Adhadhu’s CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and editor Hassan Mohamed have both been charged with Qazf - an Islamic criminal charge over false accusations of adultery - in connection to a documentary the outlet released on March 28. They have been barred from traveling overseas until July 26.

Preliminary hearings in the case began at the Criminal Court at 01:00 pm Wednesday. The case is being heard behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, two journalists from Adhadhu, Mohamed Shahzan and Leeval Ali Naseer, were imprisoned on Tuesday on charges of contempt of court for violating a blanket gag order issued by the Criminal Court in connection to the case.

Shahzan was sentenced to 15 days in prison, while Leevan was sentenced to 10 days.

The blanket gag order issued on Sunday explicitly prohibits any party from circulating the documentary, from directly or indirectly discussing the contents of the video, or making any comments linking any of the defendants or the victim with the documentary.

Both Leevan and Shahzan were accused of violating the gag order, Leevan with an article published regarding the issuance of the gag order and Shahzan over the questions he directed at President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu on Monday.

Shahzan was kicked out of the press briefing on Monday over the questions, and the President’s Office has banned ‘Adhadhu’ from all future press conferences.

The police had stormed Adhadhu’s office in Male’ City on April 27, seizing multiple electronic devices, including laptops and hard drives. The court has issued an order instructing the news outlet to share the passwords for the devices with the police. However, Adhadhu refused to share it, citing the need to protect their source.

The imprisonment of the journalists have sparked concern from both local and international media agencies, with the Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), Transparency Maldives, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) all demanding their immediate release.