Local recruiter for Islamic State to be charged for terrorism

Police have requested the Prosecutor General’s office to charge Mohamed Ameen from Kariyyavilla, Maadhandu, Fuvahmulah city for recruiting people for Jihadist terror groups waging war abroad.

Ameen was arrested on October 23, 2019, and Police have stated that he is accused of conducting wide-scale recruitment in the Maldives for terrorist groups. They also alleged that Ameen has links with the senior members of several terrorist groups and aids them financially and technologically.

The investigation into Ameen was concluded and sent to the PG Office to bring charges against Ameen on December 1, according to a statement by Police.

Ameen is one of the men who were behind the Sultan Park bombing in 2007. He escaped to Sri Lanka after the attack and an Interpol red notice was issued for him later on. He was arrested and brought back to the Maldives in 2012, and released after two months.

Ameen is the first Maldivian to be included in a terrorist list formed by the US Department of Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control. The US stated that Ameen aided a branch of Islamic State in Pakistan and Afghanistan in several ways. He is also accused of carrying out 10 recruitment sessions in the Maldives in April for the IS group.

He is the first person to be charged under the amended Anti-Terrorism Laws of the country.