MALE — Police in the Maldives raided the offices of Adhadhu Online late Monday and barred its editors from leaving the country after the outlet published a documentary alleging an affair between President Mohamed Muizzu and a former aide. Officers seized laptops, hard drives, and pen drives during a four-hour search, despite a court warrant authorizing only search and inspection of the premises.

A separate criminal court warrant issued later imposed travel bans on Adhadhu Online CEO Hussain Fiyaz Moosa and editor Hassan Mohamed, freezing their passports until July 26. The warrant cited a police intelligence report alleging that the two editors were planning to flee the country. They have been summoned to appear before police on Wednesday.

The search warrant accused Adhadhu Online and its staff of qazf, the false accusation of adultery or unlawful sexual intercourse, an offense that carries a prison term of one year and seven months and can include 80 lashes. A letter from a media regulator and a police intelligence report formed part of the evidence for the warrant. The regulator was established under a media law passed in September of last year that created a commission with the power to fine, suspend, and shut down media outlets.

The documentary, titled Aisha, was posted on Adhadhu Online's X and Facebook accounts on March 28. It featured an anonymized interview with a woman who said she was a 22-year-old single mother and claimed she had a sexual relationship with Muizzu after joining the President's Office as an administrator last year. Muizzu, 47, is married and a father of three.

Muizzu described the allegations as "baseless lies" and called for "relevant authorities to press charges against all parties who spread such false information."

Hussain Fiyaz Moosa said police had not approached the newsroom with any questions in the four weeks between the documentary's publication and the raid. "No matter how much the government wants to stop Adhadhu news, our voice and our pens cannot be silenced," he said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called on the government to return the seized equipment and lift the travel bans. "The raid on Adhadhu and subsequent travel bans are an attempt to criminalise investigative journalism under the guise of religious and national interests," said Kunal Majumder, the group's Asia-Pacific Program Coordinator. "Using religious laws to bypass civil media regulations sets a chilling precedent. Authorities must allow the press to hold government offices accountable."