The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, 🇲🇻 is an archipelago country in South Asia which practices Islam.
General censorship[]
The Maldives ranks from the middle to the top third of international indexes of press freedom, indicating a large degree of freedom. Media discussion of religion, however, remains tightly restricted. In the 2011 Freedom House Freedom of the Press annual report, the Maldives scores a 50, or "partly free". In 2010, Reporters Without Borders ranked the Maldives as having the 52nd freest press in the world (of 178 ranked nations). In 2023, its press freedom ranking dropped to 100th out of 180 ranked nations.
Internet censorship[]
- In November 2011, the blog of journalist Ismail Khilath Rasheed was shut down by Communications Authority of the Maldives (CAM) on the order of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, on the grounds that the site contained "anti-Islamic material". Rasheed, a self-professed Sufi Muslim, had argued for greater religious tolerance. The blog closing was condemned by Reporters Without Borders and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay as representing a rise in religious intolerance.
When Rasheed organized a rally in favor of greater religious freedom on 10 December, the rally was attacked and Rasheed's skull fractured. He was subsequently arrested at the urging of the orthodox Sunni Adhaalath Party, which also organized a counter-demonstration on 23 December to protect Islam. Rasheed was released on 10 January following protests by groups such as Amnesty International (which named him a prisoner of conscience) and Reporters Without Borders on his behalf.
Movie censorship[]
- The Ten Commandments (1956) - This film was banned due to its depiction of Moses, as per Islamic custom, prophets (such as Moses) and messengers of God cannot be portrayed in any medium.
- Fritz the Cat - this animated film by Ralph Bakshi was banned for its transgressive content, including violence, drugs, profanity and sexual content. As if all of this wasn't bad enough on its own, having it in an animated cartoon with antropomorphic cats probably didn't go over well at all.
- The Prince of Egypt - This film was banned due to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs (then known as the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs) taking offence to the depiction of Moses in the film.
- Innocence of Muslims - This film was banned due to being blaspehmous and critical of Islam.
- Strange World - This film was not submitted by Disney to local authorities and its theatrical release was skipped in the country, tantamounting to a ban, due to the subplot regarding Ethan and Daizo's homosexual relationship in the film.
Television censorship[]
Video game censorship[]
External links[]
- Censorship in the Maldives at Wikipedia
- This article is a stub. Please help the Censorship Wiki by expanding it.
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