Journalists should not be put in jail but impaled, the People’s National Congress (PNC)'s super-majority parliamentary group leader and Inguraidhoo MP Ibrahim Falah said on Wednesday, and he has faced a lot of backlash for it.
The Parliament accepted the Media Bill in a special sitting on Wednesday, and sent it for review to the committee. Meanwhile, journalists have been protesting near the parliament since Wednesday morning calling for the withdrawal of the bill.
Debating the Media Bill in Parliament on Wednesday, Falah said he has become stricken because of false news reports written about him in some newspapers and media outlets.
The media should not be put in jail for working at that level, but impaled on a hot fork, he said. According to the adage he used, the fork he mentioned is most relative to the Heretics Fork used in medieval times as a torture device, the difference being that the ancient Maldivian device Falah mentioned is not double ended and works like a heated iron stake.
Falah said he had also reported the matter of his defamation to the police during the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) government. He also questioned how many people would have had to endure such things without any reason.
Many people have been criticizing Falah's comments on social media.
In a post on X, Inner Maldives owner Mohamed Firaq said it was sad to hear such a statement from a government MP. Firaq said he has known Falah for many years and he regrets to say that he does not consider Falah to be a good man after this.
He said he believed Falah said this because of pressure on him, assumedly from the government.
At the same time, some have said that a member of parliament calling for violence like this is a serious matter that should be investigated.
The opposition MDP has also issued a statement condemning Falah's remarks.
The Media Bill, introduced in parliament by independent MP for Thulaadhoo constituency Abdul Hannan Abubakr, if passed, would impose fines ranging from MVR 5,000 to MVR 25,000 on individual journalists, while media outlets could face penalties of MVR 100,000.
Furthermore, the proposed legislation would empower a commission to revoke media outlet registrations and suspend newspaper operations even prior to a full investigation of alleged infringements. The bill also permits the President to appoint three members to this media regulatory commission, with the chairman also being a presidential appointment.