Raajje TV refuses to show ad for Sheikh Ilyas

Raajje TV has refused to show an ad for a CD containing a speech given by Sheikh Ilyas Hussain at Artificial Beach themed ‘Maldivians in defence of Islam’, after accepting payment for the ad.

Secretary of Mahaldeeb Foundation Abdullah Yazeed told Sun Online that Raajje TV accepted the payment for the thirty-minute advertisement of the CD, and when the foundation complained when the ad was never shown, Raajje TV said that it would be shown the following night.

When the TV station also failed to show it the following night, officials of the foundation went to the station to ask about it and were then told that they did not have time to show the ad.

“Raajje TV didn’t tell us that it’s an illegal ad. When they didn’t show it on the night they promised, we asked about it and then they said that they didn’t have time,” Yazeed said.

He said that the ad is being shown on TVM and DhiTV.

When asked about this situation, Deputy CEO of Raajje TV Abdullah Yameen said that they had not yet received the ad when the payment was accepted, and that this was done to expedite things as requested by the foundation.

Yameen said that the money has been refunded to the foundation after informing them that the ad cannot be shown on Raajje TV.

“We hadn’t received the ad when we accepted the payment. Of course the ad had to be finished before it could be sent to us. They were in a hurry. We always notify that we check ads. We checked, and since we cannot show it, they have been refunded,” he said.

Yazeed, however, said that Raajje TV did not refund the money.

When asked why Raajje TV refused to show the ad, Yameen said that the ad is against the station’s policy and the laws and regulations in the Maldives.

“We did not show that ad because it is against our editorial policy and is not within the laws and regulations in the Maldives. We have to be responsible for everything shown on our channel. We didn’t show it for our legal protection,” he said.

The ad contains part of Ilyas’s speech, “I Ilyas Hussain rang one of the people who came to the throne of the Maldives and told him to at least thank and say prayers to the Prophet when addressing the nation. [Then he said] I don’t have to say prayers to him, who is this.”