Isu appointed deputy director at Urbanco

Ismail Abdul Raheem (Isu) who was arrested and charged with terrorism in connection to two high-profile murders; the 2014 abduction and murder of a reporter and 2017 murder of a blogger has been released from detention, has been appointed a deputy director at Urbanco.

Sun has learned that Isu was appointed as Hulhumale’ Phase I operations deputy director on Monday.

Three people were arrested in connection to the two high-profile cases investigated by the Disappearances and Deaths Commission (DDCom), in June 2022.

The Prosecutor General’s Office filed terror charges against the suspects - Isu, Ahmed Muaz (Gatu Mua), and Ahmed Ismail (Buru Ahandhu) – in August 2022.

Initially ordered to jail pending the outcome of trial, Isu and Mua were both later released from jail, but were monitored with electronic tags.

Criminal Court, in November 2023, decided that the evidence against Isu and Mua were insufficient to prove the charges against them, and sent the cases back to the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).

The court also ordered for the electronic tags to be removed from their legs.

The dismissal of the cases against Isu and Mua came after a similar decision in the case against Ahandhu back in October.

Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, 28, a journalist who worked for Minivan News (later renamed Maldives Independent), was last seen on August 8, 2014. He is believed to have been abducted and murdered.

Meanwhile, Yameen Rasheed, 29, a blogger and rights activist, was stabbed to death in the stairwell of his residence in Male’ City, M. Spatula, on April 23, 2017.

Isu was pressed with two counts of aiding in the commission of an act of terrorism. According to the PGO, he was pressed with the charges for stalking Rilwan and aiding in his kidnapping and murder, and stalking Yameen Rasheed and aiding in his murder.