Malé, Maldives – The Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) appealed the High Court’s decision on Thursday to free the alleged IS leader of Maldives Mohamed Ameen, Kariyyavilla, Maadhadu, Fuvahmulah.
The High Court negated the charges against Ameen after the state failed to file charges within the assigned duration on 16 September 2021. However, the High Court released a MoniCon order restricting Ameen from travelling outside the capital city Malé.
Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem earlier said that everything was done according to the law, and the High Court has misinterpreted a Supreme Court ruling. The High Court decided that since Ameen was remanded under the Criminal Procedure Code (Act No. 12/2016), the state must adhere to the Criminal Procedure Code guidelines when filing the case. The state had filed the case after the duration stated in the penal code but within the duration prescribed in the Prevention of Terrorism Act (No. 32/2015).
Ameen was arrested in October 2019 over allegations of spreading radical extremist ideologies and recruiting and dispatching fighters to other countries.
Mohamed Ameen is the first Maldivian on the terrorist list publicized by America’s Department of the Treasuries Office of Foreign Affairs Control (OFAC). According to the OFAC bio, Ameen has assisted, sponsored, provided financial, material, and technological support for goods and services in support of ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) as observed from April 2019.
OFAC states that Ameen is a recruiter who has dispatched Maldivians to Syria and Afghanistan. He is actively engaged in leading ISIS recruitment through close lieutenants, under the guise of Islamic classes in Malé and other locations in the Maldives. He recruits fighters from the Maldivian Criminal Gangs. He directs terrorist fighters to Syria and more recently Afghanistan.
