Civil Society Groups Urge Disclosure of DDCom Findings on Yameen Rasheed’s Murder, Eight Years on
Yameen Rasheed was killed in the stairwell of his home in Malé on this day in 2017. | Photo credit: Wikipedia
Civil society organisations in the Maldives have renewed calls for justice on the eighth anniversary of the murder of human rights defender and blogger Yameen Rasheed.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Democracy Maldives, along with other undersigned civil society groups, urged President Mohamed Muizzu and Attorney General Ahmed Usham to fulfil their pledges to publicly release the findings of the Commission on Deaths and Disappearances (DDCom), which had investigated Yameen Rasheed’s case. The groups also demanded a full investigation into all individuals accused of obstructing justice in connection with the case.
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Yameen Rasheed was killed in the stairwell of his home in Malé on this day in 2017, following numerous death threats which civil society claims were repeatedly reported to the Maldives Police Service but deliberately ignored.
The DDCom, formed under the Presidential Commissions Act during the administration of former President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was tasked with probing unresolved cases of murders and enforced disappearances. However, civil society has criticised the Commission’s failure to secure convictions in Yameen’s case or any of the more than 27 cases assigned to it.
According to the statement, the Commission declined to share its findings with victims’ families or the public before the end of its term in May 2024, citing instructions from the President’s Office. President Muizzu later disbanded the Commission, with his administration promising that the report would be made public — a commitment that, as of now, remains unfulfilled.
The groups also criticised what they described as the politicisation of both Yameen Rasheed’s murder and the enforced disappearance of journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdullah, claiming that successive administrations have used the cases to gain political advantage during elections.
The statement concluded with a renewed demand for accountability and the establishment of the rule of law in the Maldives.
