Maldives police yesterday announced the arrest of two potential suspects in the killing of a liberal blogger last month that sparked international outrage and demands for a foreign-backed investigation.
Yameen Rasheed, 29, who poked fun at the nation’s politicians on his blog The Daily Panic, had his throat slit at the stairwell of his apartment in the capital island Male on April 23.
“The Maldives police service would like to inform the public that two potential suspects involved in the murder of Yameen Rasheed have been identified and brought into police custody,” the force said in a statement.
Officers were working with undisclosed international partners and laboratories in Europe and South East Asia to analyse physical and digital evidence, the statement added.
The victim’s father, Hussain Rasheed, 54, told reporters in neighbouring Sri Lanka last week that he had no confidence in the police investigation and pleaded for an international probe.
“I heard about 18 people have been killed in the Maldives like this in the past three years, but no one has been prosecuted,” he said on Friday.
He said his son had lodged complaints with the police about death threats he had received in December, but they were not taken seriously. 
Hussain Rasheed also accused the police of washing down the scene of the crime and having the blood-splattered wall repainted, while preventing 
anyone from taking pictures.
The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) have demanded an international probe, citing lack of police action over the previous crimes, which as well as the abduction of the journalist also include the murder of a legislator and an attack on another journalist.
MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor expressed scepticism over the arrests.
“Absolutely nothing has happened in the past five years over the other three crimes. But now suddenly within barely a week they say they have arrested two people. This is to impress the disgruntled public,” Ghafoor said.
The United Nations has already called on the Male government to order an independent investigation into the killing of Rasheed, the third media figure to be targeted in the troubled archipelago nation in the last five years.
Blogger Ismail Rasheed narrowly escaped death when he was stabbed by an unidentified attacker in 2012.
A journalist with the independent Minivan News, Ahmed Rilwan, was likely abducted in August 2014 and has been 
missing ever since.
The Maldives has already faced censure from the UN over the jailing of a former president and a former defence minister.