Committee passes Defamation bill to include power to close media stations

Committee researching the Anti-Defamation bill has passed the bill to include the power to close down media stations.

The Committee passed the bill with the MP Arif that says that failing to pay the specified fine for defamation within an allocated period of time; the government entity overseeing media regulations has to suspended or voids the media license of the said media station.

At the committee meeting tonight, the floor was opened for amendments to individual chapters of the bill presented by the MP for Kelaa constituency, Ali Arif.

On that opportunity, the MP for Ungoofaaru constituency, PPM’s Jaufaru Dhaaoodh presented minor amendments. And the amendments were passed by the unanimous vote of the committee. The two MDP MPs on the committee also presented amendments but failed to get enough votes to pass them on to the bill.

A total of 15 amendments were made to night to the new draft of the Anti-Defamation bill.

The biggest amendment was made to Part 5- Article 21 which covers the fines for content that threatens national security and Article 22 which covers the fine for a defamatory expression. The fines in the two sections were decreased to between MVR 25,000 and MVR 2,000,000.

The previous fine amount was between MVR 50,000 to MVR 2,000,000.

According to the amendment draft by Arif, the journalist who writes the defamatory content has to be put in prison as well.

There were no amendments offered to completing the fine payment before being allowed to make any appeals. It is an article the Medias have raised concerns about.

A new article to the bill states that if defamatory content is included in a live event, the live feed must be brought to a halt. And the victim of the defamation has the right to bring the feed to a stop.

The new draft by MP Arif does not lower the fines mentioned in the original draft. And so the fines remain between MVR 50,000 and MVR 2,000,000 for broadcasters and publishers that release defamatory or content that threatens national security. And the journalist who prepares the content can be fined between MVR 50,000 and MVR 150,000.

The bill also states that any media station or journalist that publishes content that goes against the fundamentals of Islam, charges would be pursued under the penal code.