Maldives Journalist Association (MJA) has said they do not believe Parliament can inform media outlets to removed published news.

MJA made the remarks following Parliament's request to remove articles that were published by media outlets regarding Home Minister Imran Abdullah's comments about the new regulations under the Police Act.

The Parliament's 241 Committee meeting which was supposed to be a closed meeting was aired Live due to a 'technical' issue at Parliament. Some media outlets have since published news regarding the discussions at the meeting.

MJA published a statement on Thursday stating that it was concerning the Parliament was asking media outlets to remove the published news. The statement also said the Live telecast went on for 50 minutes and Parliament had not requested media outlets not to publish articles on the meeting.

"As per Parliament regulations, it is the Parliament's responsibility to ensure closed meeting discussions remain secret. With that being said, MJA does not believe that Parliament can request media outlets to remove content that has been published", the statement said.

MJA further said that if the Parliament had concerns regarding news that has been published, they would need to share their concerns with Maldives Media Council.