The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has placed Maldives’ press freedom index for 2016 five points below that of the year before.
The RSF’s annual index was published on Wednesday, where Maldives ranked as low as 117 out of the 180 nations. Maldives was given a global score of 39.30.
The organization noted prosecution under the defamation law, which RaajjeMV itself has faced twice, and the ‘police refusal to investigate the disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan’, who was reportedly abducted in 2014.
Further, it notes violence and threats gangs and fanatics against local journalists which ‘poisonously’ causes self-censorship. RSF said that the authorities’ impunity granted to those that send that threats have forced journalists to operate within the climate of fear.
In the 116th spot is Mali, where two French journalists were murdered in 2013, a case that is yet to see prosecution.
The list’s top five positions are occupied the Nordic nations of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands.
