Ahmed Daud, one of the persons of interest in the case of Hawwa Yumnu Rasheed, 21, who was found unconscious on a rooftop after she fell from an adjacent building, has been removed as the Under Secretary for Digital Strategy at the President’s Office for providing a false statement during investigation.
Daud is the older sibling of Raud Ahmed Zilaal, the primary suspect in the case. Daud’s false statement was discovered by the presidential commission established specifically to investigate the case.
President’s Office Spokesperson, Heena Waleed, confirmed Daud’s removal from office in a post on X on Wednesday, June 18th.
Besides filling the role as the President’s Office Under Secretary, Daud had also been the president of the presidential advisory committee on youth-related matters. He resigned from this post after attracting public criticism after Yumnu’s case made headlines and his young sibling’s involvement came to light.
Later on, April 24th, President’s Office suspended Daud as the Under Secretary with no pay.
In his statement to the investigation, Daud claimed he had not communicated with any senior government officials about the case.
The provisional commission enacted to investigate the case, in its report suggested that Daud had met with his younger sibling on the incident night and they believe the two brothers would have discussed the incident.
The commission in its report further said that Daud had contacted the Minister of Homeland Security Ali Ihusan multiple times regarding the case. The report also notes that it was Daud who came down to receive Raud when he came home moments after the incident.
The report detailed the communication between Daud and Minister Ihusan. Additionally, the report highlighted contradictions between the statements Daud gave to Maldives Police Service and to the commission, indicating he had lied during the investigations.
The commission’s report further noted that no other individual appeared on the CCTV footage besides Raud and Yumnu on the incident night while forensic reports also did not indicate the involvement of a third party, which gave sufficient evidence to the commission to believe that Raud had been the only individual either involved or present at the incident scene.