Maldives Media Council (MMC) has called to the relevant authorities to speed up the investigation into the disappearance of the Minivan News journalist, Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, who went missing on the night of 8 August 2014.

In a statement issued last night, MMC said that while six years have passed, the relevant authorities have been inadequate in the investigation of the case in the past years and said that the MMC is sadden by it.

The statement said that if the case was investigated properly since the the day of the disappearance, a full picture of the events that took place would be clear by now and justice would have been served.

MMC also noted that the Presidential Committee Investigating Disappearances and Deaths have prepared a secret report on the case which have been shared by certain institutes of the government and since have been leaked. And noted that the Commissioner of Police, Mohamed Hameed did say that the leak presents an obstruction to achieving justice in regards to the case.

The MMC statement said that whether it is from negligence or carelessness, a leak of information is not acceptable as a reason to prevent justice and called to install measures to prevent such an information leak in the future.

MMC also welcomed President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s decision to bring in a foreign investigator to look into Rilwan’s disappearance and called to make the necessary arrangements take the legal measures required to bring the investigator to the Maldives as soon as possible.