Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF), in a letter to Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President of the Republic of Maldives, is alarmed at the brutal killing of blogger and social media activist Yameen Rasheed in Male’ on April 23, 2017.
PPF Secretary General Owais Aslam Ali urged Maldivian government for the investigation into the murder as well as threats made prior to his death.
According to Maldives Journalists Association (MJA), Rasheed was a prominent blogger and social media activist advocating for rule of law, human rights and social justice in the Maldives.
He was found with multiple stab wounds in the stairs of his apartment building at 3am on Sunday, April 23, and was taken to hospital where he died due to excessive bleeding.
Rasheed was an outspoken critic of the government and religious intolerance in the Maldives, popularly known for his satirical English blog, “The Daily Panic”. For the past year, he had received death threats from various groups. Rasheed reported the death threats to police and had posted screenshots of warnings he received as text messages on social media.
Maldivian blogger Rasheed ran a relentless justice campaign for his journalist friend who had been missing since 2014. His advocacy work on the case was recognized at the 2015 meeting of the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN) and had continued to supporting IFJ monitoring from the Maldives.
