Maldives New ‘Evidence’ Law Undermines Media Freedom

By Human Rights Watch

Click to expand Image The People's Majlis, Maldives’ parliament, in Male, February 2018. © 2018 STR/AFP via Getty Images In a serious setback for media freedom, the Maldives parliament today enacted legislation allowing courts to force journalists and media outlets to reveal their sources. While reiterating constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of the press, the new Evidence Act includes an exception that undermines those protections: judges can compel the disclosure of a source’s identity “if the court decides that there is no negative impact or not a significantly negative…

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