Man arrested for threatening President Solih

An individual who threatened President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on air during a live TV program has been arrested.

The individual from Th. Vilufushi said on the ‘Rayyithunge Adu’ live program of Channel 13 that the President “should be lit on fire”. 

Police said today that an individual aged 47 was arrested in connection with the threat.

The individual from Th. Vilufushi was responding to a question by the hosts regarding the operations of the current administration. Video footage of the incident has gone rife on social media. Many have even questioned whether the comment could be attributed to terrorism.

“I think that the President should be lit on fire right now.” Said a caller.

Police said on Friday night that the matter had been brought to their attention and that they were looking into it. Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) has also begun an inquiry into the matter.

Channel 13 also issued a statement apologizing for the comment. A Facebook post by the channel read that the individual was speaking based on his own opinion and that the phone call was interrupted the moment that the individual spoke in the manner. 

The channel apologized for broadcasting the statement and said that the channel did not condone such behavior that could lead to violence. The channel said that it wanted to bring this fact to the attention of its viewers.