Online newspaper Dhiyares has filed an appeal at the High Court after the Information Commissioner supported the Defense Ministry’s stance on sharing the details of the Indian Military assets currently deployed here in the Maldives.
Dhiyares said that it had lodged the complaint at the Information Commission and that its request cannot be denied as stipulated in the Right to Information Act. But after the commission had decided to support the defense ministry in its claim the news established had lodged an appeal at the High Court.
Dhiyares said that it hoped that the High Court would be fair and objective in considering the appeal and if Indian Military assets are deployed in Maldivian soil, their exact numbers should also be revealed.
It said former Civil Court judge and former Deputy Prosecutor General Mariyam Nihaayath would legally represent the newspaper in court.
The Information Commission held two hearings after Dhiyares lodged its complaint against the Defense Ministry. In one of the hearings, the National Defense Force had given a statement that said that revealing the information requested by Dhiyares would threaten national security and also jeopardize the bilateral relations between India and the Maldives.
In its ruling, the Information Commission had said that the Defense Ministry had shared legal technicalities that support its reluctance to divulge the information and that the commission had accepted these legal technicalities.
While the commission had ruled against revealing the information, it had said that Dhiyares had the choice of filing an appeal to overrule its decision.
