President ratifies annulation of Anti-Defamation Act

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has ratified the legislation passed by Parliament to annul the Anti-Defamation and Freedom of Speech Act.

Solih ratified the Bill this Thursday morning, and it has now been published on the Government Gazette.

With the ratification, the Regulation on Compensation for Defamation has been added back to Section 2 (10) of General Regulations.

The legislation to decriminalize defamation and determine it as a civil offense – submitted by former North Henveyru MP and current Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid - was passed by Parliament on November 14 with the vote of 38 parliamentarians.

The legislation annulling the contentions Anti-Defamation and Freedom of Speech Act is the first bill ratified by newly inaugurated President Solih.