Transparency Maldives (TM) said on Monday that Yameen Rasheed, social media activist and blogger who was found brutally murdered a day ago, expressed concerns for repeated death threats that went unheeded by the police.

TM said Yameen was found murdered after he reported the death threats to the police, who didn’t investigate the matter, and even shared his concerns on social media. After which, he shared the apprehension with Transparency Maldives.

The organisation expressed its belief that this is a direct attack on free speech as such cases of the past are yet to be resolved. It only shows the lack of importance given by the state for such serious matters, it said.

TM also said the authorities’ failing to bring justice to such cases only encourages criminals to repeat such crimes.

“Those behind religious scholar Dr. Afraasheem Ali’s murder and journalist Ahmed Rilwan’s disappearance was never found. If the truth of such killings cannot be discovered, justice can never prevail in the land”, TM said.

Although TM affirms Yameen expressing his concerns about the unheeded death threats by the police, Police said that they had questioned some people in relation to the case. Police said they would use all facilities at their disposal to investigate the murder of Yameen Rasheed.

With the time clocking 24 hours after his death, Police media officer told VNews that they cannot disclose anything regarding the case at the moment. However, a statement relating to the case would be released soon, he said.

The 29-year-old was found stabbed multiple times in the chest, neck and head near the staircase of his home, M. Spectular, in Male’ in the early hours of Sunday morning. He was initially found by a resident of the house. He succumbed to injuries few hours later at state-run Indhira Gandhi Memorial Hospital. He was stabbed 14 times in the chest alone.

While the whole country is in shock over the senseless and brutal murder of Yameen, people world-wide are also expressing their concern over the matter. They are calling for those responsible to be brought in the face of justice as swiftly as possible.