President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih says he is very proud of the big leap that the Maldives has made on the World Press Freedom Index this year, moving from 120th in 2018 to 72nd this year.
In a tweet, the President said that the leap underscores the government's ongoing commitment to a safe environment where journalists can operate independently without bias or favor.
Reporters without borders said that the Maldives showed encouraging results and promises to keep.
In its subsequent write-up, RSF said that the former government led by President Abdulla Yameen, who was elected president in 2013, was very hostile to press freedom and Maldives fell steadily in the World Press Freedom Index, from 103rd in 2013 to 120th in 2018.
RSF said that his defeat by challenger Mohamed Solih in the presidential election in September 2018 raised hopes because Solih had given some specific pledges on improving press freedom.
It noted that an initial promise was kept: two months after the elections, parliament repealed the draconian 2016 law on defamation, which had been widely used by the previous government to harass independent media outlets, especially Raajje TV, which had to pay a total of 215,000 euros in fines for allegedly defaming Yameen.
However, RSF said that the police continue to use physical violence against journalists covering demonstrations but there has been some encouraging progress in the fight against impunity.
It added that the investigations into the disappearance of the journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla in August 2014 and the fatal stabbing of the blogger Yameen Rasheed in April 2017 have advanced significantly even though they have yet to reach a satisfactory
