RaajjeTV has been penalized by MVR 1 million for broadcasting content that defamed President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom. The penalty was levied after the Broadcasting Commission reviewed the case on its own accord.
The content in question involved a live broadcast of a rally held by Maldivian United Opposition in MDP headquarters on 26th October 2016. In the rally, a guest speaker had expressed his sentiments, which had been quoted in the report sent in by the Commission.
“Take a look at any of the projects started out by Abdullah Yameen. Few projects such as the pigeon park was completed”, “there are no airports, flats, airports of any other projects created by him”, “over the space of three years, how many billion Rufiyaa was handed over by the state coffers to him, nothing done” and “we had received nothing but theft, corruption and pain” were the statements made by the speaker which the Broadcasting Commission deemed as having infringed on the President’s dignity.
- “Take a look at any of the projects started out by Abdullah Yameen. Few projects such as the pigeon park was completed”
- “There are no airports, flats, airports of any other projects created by him”
- “Over the space of three years, how many billion Rufiyaa was handed over by the state coffers to him, nothing done”
- “We had received nothing but theft, corruption and pain”
The letter sent to the channel was signed by Broadcasting Commission’s President Mohamed Shaheeb, a veteran in journalism field in the Maldives. The letter said that RaajjeTV had violated clause 10 subsection (a) (1) and (2) of the Anti-Defamation and Freedom of Expression Bill and that the Commission was well within its mandate to carry out this investigation.
The MVR 1 million penalty came just hours after the channel paid up the previous fine of MVR 200,000.
The statement by the Commission said that due to the broadcast of the content, RaajjeTV had created doubt amongst members of public over the roles and responsibility of the President and damaged his reputation and dignity.
The channel had been ordered to pay the fine within a period of 30-days.
