Yameen Rasheed (Dhivehi: ޔާމީން ރަޝީދު; 10 April 1988 – 23 April 2017) was a Maldivian liberal blogger and IT professional who was stabbed 16 times in his staircase. His death received international news coverage and condemnation among world leaders and had sparked protests.
Early life and education
Yameen Rasheed was born on 10 April 1988 to Hussain Rasheed and Mariyam Shafeega. He was born in Feydhoo, Addu City.[1] He moved to Trivandrum, India before he was 2 years old and studied in Sarvodaya Vidyalaya School.[1] He studied in Bangalore Presidency College and received a Best Outgoing Student Award and did his Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA) there as well.[1]
Career
He started blogging in India and over time became friends with Maldivian bloggers.[1] After he studied BCA, he came back to Maldives and applied to Dhiraagu and Ooredoo Maldives, where he worked as a software developer for Dhiraagu.[1] While he was a software developer he wrote for magazines such as Minivan News, Himal Southasian, and The Indian Express.[1] While he was working at the Maldives Stock Exchange, he started his own blog called The Daily Panic, where overtime he amassed a large following for his "droll reporting and biting satire" of Maldivian politics.[2][3]
He was previously arrested during the 2015 May Day protests in the Maldives and was held as a political prisoner in Dhoonidhoo Prison for 21 days.[4]
Yameen was one of many people who led the 'Find Moyameeha' campaign to find Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, his friend and journalist who was abducted and murdered.[5] Yameen was one of two people who made an award-winning app to drive blood donations for Thalassemia patients.[2][6] He had also been targeted as well as been receiving death threats by radical groups because he spoke out against extremists which he reported to the Maldives Police Service and has posted screenshots of the threats on social media.[7][8]
Death
On 23 April 2017, Yameen Rasheed was found dead in his apartment staircase with multiple stabs on his neck, and chest.[3][7][9] His throat was slit and parts of his skull was missing.[10] He was later rushed to IGMH, where he was pronounced dead around 3 am.[11][12]
Yameen's parents called upon the police to include international investigators in their investigation, and Yameen's father, Hussain Rasheed went to Sri Lanka to meet foreign diplomats to put pressure onto the Maldivian government.[10][16] It was later found out that the Police refused foreign forensic help.[17]Jared Genser, an international human rights lawyer, sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations to demand the Maldivian government for an independent international investigation by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights into his murder.[18] Yameen's family also accused the police for destroying forensic evidence.[19] Police later released three names of the suspects involved in his murder, Ismail Rasheed, Ismail Haisham Rasheed, and Ahmed Zihan Ismail, and were later named as the prime suspects.[20][21] Police blocked a march held for Yameen which was organized by Yameen's friends and family, they signed a petition urging for an independent investigation to which the People's Majlis (parliament) rejected the emergency motion.[22][23][24][25]
Police established that the motive behind Yameen's killing was due to the perpetrators thinking he was "mocking Islam."[26]
In August 2017, Police confirms that religious extremists killed Yameen.[27] In September 2017, Yameen's murder trial began with a secret hearing.[28] In October 2018, the preliminary hearings were concluded and all the evidences were sealed.[29]
In April 2018, a march was held by Yameen's family and friends which called on the authorities to open trials and not a secret trial.[30][31] Police tried to disperse the crowd and detained two activists.[30] Yameen's family have tried multiple times to meet Prosecutor General (PG) as well as police but have been turned away.[32] In November 2018, then-President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih established the Commission on Investigation of Murder and Enforced Disappearances (DDCom) to investigate cold cases such as Yameen's murder.[33][34]
On 10 April 2019, Ahmed Rilwan and Yameen Rasheed's family established the "Rilwan and Yameen Foundation", it will work to advocating for human rights, democracy, freedom of speech, tolerance, justice and the right to a dignified life.[35][36] It was established on Yameen's birthday.[37]
A secret witness has said that Yameen's murder was funded by people in Maldives and nobody has been investigated, arrested or charged for financing his death.[38][39] In 2022, Ahmed Ismail, Ahmed Muaz, Ismail Abdul Raheem were arrested for Yameen's disappearance and later the Criminal Court released Ahmed Ismail into house arrest.[40][41]
In 2023, the Criminal Court released the three suspects due to lack of evidence.[42][43]
Red balloon
The red balloon emoji 🎈 was Yameen's last tweet before he was stabbed.[44] It's now used as a tribute for Yameen's fight for freedom of expression as well as being used to spread joy among his friends and family as well as awareness.[45][46]
