Thoyyib questioned in probe over fake police statement

Thoyyib Shaheem, a well-known social media activist was summoned by the police for questioning on Thursday, as they investigate a fake police report that was spread on social media last month.

A police spokesperson confirmed Thoyyib was questioned in the case on Thursday, but declined to provide any details.

Earlier this month, the police seized Thoyyib’s phone and other electronic devices under a court warrant.

The fake document in question was purportedly of an investigative report by the police regarding a forged warrant produced in 2016 in an attempt to arrest then-president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

The police dismissed the document as fake, and announced on September 3 that it was investigating the case as a serious issue.

The police said that an examination of the document revealed that the letterhead used in it is different from the police’s official letterhead, and that the forger used the signature of Assistant Commissioner of Police Ahmed Shifan – who regularly signs police press statements as the service’s chief spokesperson – for then-Acting Police Commissioner Abdulla Nawaz’s signature.

An anti-government activist, Thoyyib was arrested in March 2017 during Yameen’s administration, but was released by the High Court the next month, following which he relocated to Sri Lanka.

He returned to the Maldives in 2019 after then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assumed office, and served as a senior executive director at the Tourism Ministry.