Maumoon doenst’t approve of bill threatening freedom of expression

Former President of Maldives and President of PPM, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has said that he does not approve the bill of Anti-Defamation and Freedom of Expression submitted at the Parliament by the MP for Ungoofaaru constituency, Jaufaru Daood.

In a message sent to the members of the PPM Parliamentary Group through Viber today, Maumoon said that he sincerely want to say that passing that is bill is not something he wants to see done.

Maumoon said that as the President of the party, for the benefit of the people, it is his responsibility to say what needs to be said to any and all bodies of the party.

MP for the Dhiggaru constituency, Ahmed Faaris Maumoon has also said that he would not be supporting the bill.

Journalists and a large portion of the general public have been raising concerns regarding the sections and articles in the bill.

Human rights organization, Amnesty International has also raised concerns regarding the bill.

They said that the bill formed in such a way that it obstructs the freedom of expression and called for the immediate withdrawal of the bill and amend it to be within the regulations of human rights laws.

And said that freedom expression is a right to every human being as per a number of acts that the Maldives is part of, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a law should not exist that would withhold that right.

Amnesty International said that the bill at the Parliament right now is made in such a way that is misinterpreted and grants the state the power to take action against journalists, Medias and other individuals that criticize the government.

And the group expressed that they are against the use of an anti-defamation law to stop peaceful criticism and violate the freedom of expression.

Other international organizations and Medias have said that the bill has come to light at a time where there are numerous allegations of corruption among state officials and the purpose of the bill is to bring an stop to those allegations.