Maldives - Ahmed Rilwan, 28, abducted, 8 Aug 2014

flutterby

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(Sorry about the strange prefix, the forum software made me pick one, although none were really relevant.)

Rilwan is a journalist for an opposition newspaper in the Maldives and the whole case has been very political.

It has taken Maldivian police until April 2nd of this year to confirm he was abducted, although private investigators have known that since 2014. His passport was also forged to make it appear that he had fled the country to go to Syria.

The whole case is very messy and I really don't think we'll ever get to the bottom of it

http://maldivesindependent.com/crim...er-hostile-surveillance-police-confirm-123185
 
The last believed sighting of Ahmed Rilwan – and even that is not confirmed – took place a month ago and occurred in deeply ominous circumstances.

The Maldivian journalist was heading home in the early hours of 8 August, using the ferry that connects Male to Hulamale. He was captured on CCTV shortly before 1am. He was wearing a dark shirt.

At around 2am, witnesses reported seeing a man in dark clothes being forced at knifepoint into a vehicle parked outside Mr Rilwan’s apartment. There has been no word of the 28-year-old since. Mr Rilwan, who used the Twitter handle Moyameehaa, wrote about politics, criminal gangs, Islamic extremism and the not uncommon nexus of all three. He upset people and received threats from those who wanted him to stop. He chose to carry on. “We believe he was abducted but we’ve not got any leads,” said his brother, Moosa Rilwan. “We believe he was abducted by people to stop his freedom of speech; to stop him writing about politics and radicals.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices...of-the-maldives-ongoing-troubles-9721718.html

http://findmoyameehaa.com/

http://www.ifj.org/missing/case-file-10/

https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/8000/asa290022014en.pdf
 
http://maldivesindependent.com/crime-2/notorious-gangster-arrested-over-rilwans-abduction-123310

Small update in the case, the owner of the car has been arrested

The owner of a car suspected to have been used in the abduction of The Maldives Independent journalist Ahmed Rilwan was arrested Tuesday.

A credible source has confirmed that Aalif Rauf, 29 years, was arrested from Malé, days after police revealed that DNA samples from hairs lifted from the trunk of the Kuda Henveiru gang member’s red car matched that of Rilwan’s mother’s DNA.

The car was illegally transported to the suburb island Hulhumalé – where Rilwan was living – a week before the abduction and brought back to Malé in mid August that year.
 
Another strange update- an MP has allegedly made threatening calls to a friend (Shamoon ‘Lucas’ Jaleel) of Rilwan

http://maldivesindependent.com/poli...-from-an-mp-asks-for-police-protection-123556

A friend of missing journalist Ahmed Rilwan has asked for police protection after receiving a threatening phone call from a member of parliament, in which he said: “I’ve found you now, you’ll know what happens next, you know what happened to your partner.”

The original call wasn't in English but there's a translation at the link. Whilst the MP denies "the partner" refers to Rilwan, what he confirms is just as disturbing! Anni is the nickname of the former president

Speaking to The Maldives Independent, Assad denied threatening Lucas, claiming the recording posted online was edited. He admitted to making a phone call, but only to advice Lucas over the offensive photo.

“I did not threaten him, I only said that Anni should be killed, and so should Lucas. Is that threatening to kill him?”

Assad said that the partner he was referring to was Nasheed, and not Rilwan.

“Whoever he is saying the partner is, it’s not who I meant. I didn’t even know who this Lucas is, I’m not on Facebook or Twitter, I don’t know these people on social media,” Assad said, adding that Lucas was “beneath me” and “lower than a cockroach on the road.”
 

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