Maldives blogger stabbed to death

Maldivian blogger Yameen Rasheed on his blog "The Daily Panic". On Sunday, April 23, 2017., police reported he had been with multiple stab wounds outside his home in the capital, Male, and died in hosShow more

MALE, MALDIVES // A liberal blogger was stabbed to death in the capital of the Maldives on Sunday. Yameen Rasheed, 29, was found in the stairwell of his apartment in Male with multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. He died after being taken to hospital.

Rasheed was latest media personality to be targeted in the troubled honeymoon destination. His blog, The Daily Panic, was known for poking fun at the nation’s politicians.

“With The Daily Panic, I hope to cover and comment upon the news, satirise the frequently unsatirisable politics of Maldives,” he wrote.

Colleagues said Rasheed had recently complained to police about death threats received through his social media accounts.

He is the third media figure to be targeted in the Maldives in the past five years. Blogger Ismail Rasheed narrowly escaped death when he was stabbed by an unidentified attacker in 2012.

A journalist with the independent Minivan News, Ahmed Rilwan, has been missing — presumed abducted — since August 2014. Colleagues said Rasheed had been publicly campaigning for an investigation into Mr Rilwan’s disappearance.

Past and current presidents condemned the killing. President Abdulla Yameen appealed for the public to come forward with information, saying, “We will not stand idly by while such acts of hatred are forced upon our citizens.”

Ex-president and current opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed, who is now living in exile in London demanded an international investigation, tweeting “a treasured soul has been stolen from us”.

The murder comes as political tension mounts in the Maldives after last month’s failed opposition bid to impeach the parliamentary speaker. All opposition leaders are now in exile or jail after a lengthy crackdown on dissent imposed by president Yameen.

* Agence France-Presse