MoniCon order issued against terror suspect Ameen, barring travel out of Male'

 High Court has issued a MoniCon order against Mohamed Ameen, Kariyya Villa, Maadhadu, Fuvahmulah City – who the police suspect to be the leader of the Maldivian faction of the terror organization, Islamic State.

The order read that Ameen will not be allowed to travel outside of Male’ City without authorization from the Police. In addition to this – he will also not be able to leave his home from 18:00 in the evening to 06:00 in the morning.

A Monitoring and Control (MoniCon) order is a court order which can be issued against persons suspected of terrorism-related offenses stipulated in the Anti-Terrorism Act – whom the Home Minister believes to be a threat to the society based on reasonable suspicions – in order to monitor and control them.

Whilst a MoniCon order has been issued against Ameen by the High Court – on September 16, the court had dismissed the terrorism charged filed against him, ordering his release from custody. Ameen had been charged with membership at a terrorist organization and conspiracy to carry out an act of terrorism under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

High Court had dismissed the charges against Ameen – citing that the charges were filed after the expiration of the statute of limitation. 

On the same day, the Prosecutor General’s Office said that they would appeal the dismissal by the High Court to the Supreme Court. Citing that they were unhappy with the High Court’s decision – PGO detailed that they believed the Court to have misinterpreted Article 26 (K) of the Anti-Terrorism Act in their decision as well as due to the failure to refer to the exceptions to the statute of limitations stipulated in the Act – for investigation and filing charges in terrorism-related cases.  

They also said that the failure to refer to the exceptions to the statute of limitations stipulated in the Anti-Terrorism Act – leads for the stipulated exceptions to serve no purpose.

Ameen is the first person to be arrested and charged under the revised Anti-Terrorism Act.

He is suspected of involvement in the Sultan’s Park bombing which injured a dozen tourists in 2007. He fled the country after the bombing, prompting an Interpol red notice against him.

He was located in neighboring Sri Lanka and brought to Maldives in 2012 but released by the court after two months of detainment.

He was rearrested in 2019 – under suspicion of spreading radical extremist ideologies and recruiting and dispatching people for jihad in other countries. Ameen was transferred to house arrest in February this year – due to complaints of not receiving adequate medical care the opportunity to exercise outside of his jail cell.

US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has Ameen flagged as a senior operative of IS, making him the first Maldivian national to be named on the OFAC’s terror list.

According to the US, Ameen was actively engaged in leading IS recruitment in Maldives. He is also accused of assisting the IS branch in Afghanistan and Pakistan by providing funding, assists and technological support.