Ministers arrested for performing black magic on Maldives president

The authorities in Maldives arrested two serving ministers who were accused of performing black magic on President Mohamed Muizzu.

Maldives state minister at the Environment Ministry, Shamnaz Saleem and her ex-husband Adam Rameez, serving as a minister at the President’s Office, were arrested along with two others, local media outlet reported.

While local police confirmed their arrest, they refused to share details about the reasons or the allegations of performance black magic on President Mohamed Muizzu.

Shamnaz Saleem and the other two were remanded in custody while she was suspended from her post along with her husband Rameez.

The couple had worked with President Muizzu when he was serving as the mayor of Male City.

Shamnaz was first appointed as a state minister first at the official residence of the president, however, she was transferred to the Environment Ministry Media last year.

Her husband who was known as a close aide of the Maldives president had remained absent from the mainstream politics in the last few months.

Meanwhile, Maldives government or the Maldives President’s office has not released any official statement on the issue.

While sorcery is not a criminal offence under the penal code in Maldives, it carries a six-month jail sentence under the Islamic Law.

It is pertinent to mention that Muizzu’s People’s National Congress decimated its pro-Indian rival to secure an iron-clad two-thirds majority in April’s polls for the 93-member assembly.

A British-educated civil engineer, 45-year-old Muizzu was an unlikely candidate for the presidency in September after serving as construction minister in the government of his mentor Abdulla Yameen.

Muizzu’s back-to-back election successes hinged on a sustained campaign against India’s outsized political and economic clout in the Maldives.