Maldives Journalists Association (MJA) has filed a "Right to Information Request (RTI)" seeking a list of websites blocked by the Communication Authority of Maldives (CAM).

CAM, which comes under the Ministry of Cities, Local Government and Public Works, on Thursday blocked two websites critical of the government, kurusee.com and dhiyavaru.com, as well as a website registered under the name of furathama.com, but the latter was unblocked on Friday.

In a post on X today, MJA said it has filed an RTI application seeking a list of websites blocked by CAM, including the list that was blocked, as well as the list of websites that were unblocked after blocking, and asked its reasons the websites were blocked and unblocked.

After the government faced criticism from the MJA and the public for blocking the websites by CAM, the president's office's chief spokesman Mohamed Shahyb said in a post on X on Friday that the MJA issued the statement without examining or researching the facts at all.

"The government has not taken action against any registered newspaper. Not every website is a newspaper. It is regretful that the MJA has not taken into account many aspects of the investigation before issuing a statement," Shahyb said in a statement.

However, the MJA later posted on X that while the government denied that it had blocked the registered furthama.com, it has obtained available evidence with the help of foreign cybersecurity experts affiliated with the organisation before issuing the statement.

"They informed the organisation that 'furathama.com' was blocked directly by the service provider of the country and based on the available evidence, it is unlikely that it was done by the site owner. The site owner has also lodged a similar complaint with the organisation," the MJA said.

The MJA said that before issuing a statement, the governing body debated among the members and consulted organisations related to international journalists affiliated with the organisation.

"The MJA is acting in a manner that upholds the right to press responsibly and will not lag behind in discharging its duties," the Association said.