Adhadhu sues over ban from President’s Office press briefings

Online news outlet Adhadhu has filed a lawsuit against the President’s Office over its decision to ban its journalists from press briefings.

The President’s Office had imposed the ban on May 11, citing an ongoing Criminal Court case over a video content published by Adhadhu. The President’s Office stated that all journalists from the news outlet would be barred from its premises pending the resolution of all matters related to the case.

Adhadhu has asked the Civil Court to declare the decision a flagrant violation of the freedom of the press and the right to information.

The news outlet accused the President’s Office of curtailing the rights in violation of Article 16 of the Constitution.

The ban had come hours after Mohamed Shahzan, a journalist from Adhadhu, was kicked out of a press briefing after he asked President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu questions that were deemed by the President’s Office to be in violation of a contentious gag order issued by the Criminal Court in the case against the news outlet.

It had marked the first time for a journalist to get kicked out of a President’s Office press conference over a question.

Shahzan was later imprisoned to 15 days in prison for contempt of court over the incident, while another journalist from the outlet, Leevan Ali Naseer, was imprisoned for 10 days for the same charge over a news article deemed to have violated the same gag order.

The gag order in question 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 video, which Adhadhu published on March 28.

The police had stormed Adhadhu’s office in Male’ City on April 27 over the case, 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 equipment remains in police custody.

Meanwhile, Adhadhu’s CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and editor Hassan Mohamed are on trial on charges of Qazf - an Islamic criminal charge over false accusations of adultery or fornication - in connection to the video.