Shadhiya and Shazra remanded for three days

Aishath Shadhiya, 47, and Dr. Shazra Ibrahim, 36, have been accused of repeatedly demonstrating outside diplomatic missions. (Photo/Maldives Police Service)

The two female protesters who were arrested from Male’ on Wednesday on suspicion of repeatedly harassing a foreign diplomat and demonstrating outside diplomatic missions against the ongoing genocide in Gaza have been remanded in custody of the police for three days.

Two female protesters - Aishath Shadhiya, 47 – the wife of Islamic scholar Dr. Mohamed Iyaz, and Dr. Shazra Ibrahim – were arrested from Male’ at around 01:00 pm on Wednesday.

They were presented before the Criminal Court for their remand hearing on Thursday. According to a police spokesperson, the court remanded both protestors in custody of the police for three days.

According to the police, they repeatedly demonstrated outside diplomatic missions in violation of the laws on peaceful assembly, used megaphones to shout and use foul language, hindered the work of diplomatic missions, and also repeatedly targeted a specific ambassador with acts of harassment.

The police said that they ignored repeated warnings by the police to leave and obstructed law enforcement.

Aishath Shadhiya, 47, and Dr. Shazra Ibrahim, 36, are accused of repeatedly targeting a foreign ambassador. (Photo/Maldives Police Service)

They were arrested under a court order.

Shadhiya and Shazra had repeatedly staged demonstrations in Male’ and Hulhumale’ since as early as June. According to the police, this includes on June 16 and August 9, when they followed a foreign ambassador and left items outside his residence, including what appears to be a mock dead body covered in a white shroud.

The police did not specify which ambassador they targeted.

Maldivians have been holding protests in the streets of the capital, Male’ City, for months, demanding that the government ban Israeli citizens from entering the country, amid mounting outrage over the atrocities in Gaza, and other occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel’s current war on Gaza, which began on October 7th, last year, has killed more than 40,500 Palestinians, many of them women and children.

It has also reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble, displaced the vast majority of residents, and resulted in widespread malnutrition.