6 in Rilwan's murder fled to Syria, but can't confirm death: Commission

Six people involved in the abduction and murder of Minivan News journalist Ahmed Rilwan had left for Syria but have not been confirmed dead while fighting in the country's civil way, a presidential commission investigating deaths and disappearances revealed on Thursday.

The commission made the revelation at a press conference held Thursday afternoon after submitting the report of the cases investigated by the commission to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. 

Commission chief Fareesha Abdulla told reporters that Rilwan was abducted on 8 August 2014, taken in a car's trunk and killed aboard a fishing boat. She also claimed that Rilwan was read his Islamic testmony (Shahada) before slitting his throat and then drowning his body in the sea.

The commission has already disclosed this in the past.

Fareesha said that six people who were on board the fishing boat at the time had left for Syria to join the fighting. They are:

"Six of those who were on the boat that night, and six of those suspected of being involved, had travelled to Syria to join the civil war there. They did not travel on the same day, but most of them travelled together," said Fareesha.

She said that apart from Munaz, the other five had left for Syria the same year. Munaz left for Syria in 2017. He said there were reports that they had been killed in the fighting, but there was no official confirmation.

The report of the commission has been completed and handed over to the president, three years after the commission has been investigating the cases. In June, three people were arrested and charged with terrorism in connection with Rilwan's disappearance and blogger Yameen Rasheed's murder. They are:

Although the trial in these cases has already begun, there are no further details of the trial as these are confidential cases. The trial court has remanded all of them to judicial custody.