Amnesty International calls on Maldivian government to withdraw defamation and freedom of expression bill in Parliament and revise it to meet international standards and requirements.
In a statement issued Friday, the global human rights group said the bill would “alarmingly increase the government’s control of independent media and have a stifling effect on the right to freedom of expression”.
It said that the bill is “vaguely formulated”, giving authorities wide discretion to target and silence journalists and media outlets that criticize the government. Noting the massive public outcry and arrest of several journalists who staged peaceful, press freedom protests recently, the organization highlighted that the controversial bill has been proposed at a time freedom of expression in the Maldives is increasingly under threat.
The statement further said that various international organizations are expressing concern about the bill being proposed at a time when “large-scale corruption allegations against senior government officials are being investigated, so as to silence media exposure of such allegations”.
According to Amnesty International, defamation bills used for the purpose of inhibiting peaceful criticism of government or public officials violate the right to freedom of expression and therefore the organization opposes laws which criminalize defamation. It said that libel, slander and similar issues should be treated as matters for civil litigation.