Several members of the Presidential Youth Advisory Board have tendered their resignation amid public demonstrations demanding justice for a young woman who was found injured on a rooftop of a warehouse in Male’ last weekend.
21-year-old Mariyam Yumnu was found injured on the rooftop of a warehouse in the Henveiru district at around 07:23 am on Friday, April 18. According to the police, their investigation uncovered that she fell from a skylight on the ninth-floor stairwell of the adjacent building, H. Fentenoy, but that there was no evidence of foul play.
But before her fall, she had been part of a group of at least nine individuals who were at Ma. Maandhooge Dhekunuge for a party, where they are believed to have possibly consumed drugs and alcohol. And in the last moments before her fall, she had been with Raudh Ahmed Zilal, the younger brother of Daudh Ahmed, who had been the president of the Youth Advisory Board at the time.
There soon emerged allegations of a police coverup after it became known that the individuals involved have family links to influential figures, including a cabinet minister and a diplomat. The police only named Yumnu, and did not name the other persons of interest in the case, including Raudh, until six days later.
Meanwhile, the house where the group held the “party” was confirmed as the family residence of Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen, who admitted that two of his nephews were among the group of individuals involved, but denied he knew anything about what he described as the “gathering.”
Videos and photos soon emerged which appeared to show not just the eight persons of interest, but also Daudh, consuming narcotics.
On Thursday, Daudh resigned from the board, and was suspended from his job as an undersecretary for digital strategy at the President’s Office.
His resignation came after other board members threatened to leave if he did not.
At least four board members have resigned in the aftermath of Yumnu’s fall; Fathimath Raya Shareef, Aminath Rabaab, Huwaina Mohamed Nihad, and Nimal Hameed.
Most of the announced their resignation via Instagram.
Some of them said they resigned in solidarity of the youth-led protest movement demanding justice for Yumnu.
The case of Yumnu, who spent nearly three hours on the rooftop of a warehouse before a neighbor saw her and she was rescued, has sparked serial protests in Male’. The protestors, a vast majority of them young men and women, have been demanding justice for her, and the resignation of top government and police officials over the alleged coverup.
On Thursday, six days after Yumnu’s fall, the police arrested Raudh, publicly named eight persons of interest in the case, and filed for court warrants to search the other two residences that Yumnu had been in before she went to Fentenoy.
The police have said that both Yumnu and Raudh were heavily intoxicated at the time, and had both tested positive for narcotics. Clips of CCTV footage shared by police show Yumnu appeared to have trouble walking, and even fell down on the ground at one point.
The court order for Raudh’s remand extension shows the police believe Yumnu and Raudh had argued before she fell.