Police probe tweet calling for bloodshed of the president

Maldives Police Service has begun investigating a tweet calling for the bloodshed of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in order to overthrow his government.

The tweet under investigation by the police was made by Male’ City Council’s Spokesperson Mariyam Shiuna.

Shiuna’s tweet said that an uprising should be staged in order to overthrow the current administration. She also accused President Solih’s administration of being cruel towards Muslims.

“This cannot be achieved by tweeting. Have to opt for blodshed,” the tweet also read.

Police, on Thursday, told Sun that a tweet calling for bloodshed from a twitter account under the name ‘Nannaxeev’ has come to their attention. They added that the case is under further investigation.

Shiuna’s tweet has now been deleted. In a tweet published later on, she explained that she deleted the earlier tweet as many people misunderstood its meaning. She said she had not meant a literal bloodshed by her tweet.

Encouraging terrorism is a criminal offense under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Previous cases of such tweets have been investigated, while some of them also saw charges.