The Maldives in the face of recurrent Jihadism

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Abstract

The recent Easter 2020 attack in the Maldives, targeting ‘several boats anchored at the harbour of Mahibadhoo island, some of which belonged to the Maldives’ “apostate government” was claimed by ISIS through the Al Naba magazine (Zahir, 2020). It clearly indicates that Jihadism remains an issue of high concern in the country, as it proved fully ready to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic. These fanatics seem to be very well organised and apt in using social media: ‘in social media outlets violent extremists made threats of revenge against the government. They established a Telegram channel by the name “TouristWatchMv” in January, suggesting a possible targeting of tourists in the country. It is now believed that individuals linked to the Maduvvari cell carried out the earlier attacks. (…) Individuals and small cells, networked through social media and other communications technologies, with excess to Salafi-jihadi ideology, have now taken up the cause of spreading violent extremism using various platforms like Facebook and Telegram.’ (Zahir, 2020). This terrorist attack has been associated with the presence of Jihadists in the Levant war scenario. A UN agency analysing the Jihadi flux to this region observed that ‘On a per capita basis, Maldives is one of the largest contributors of FTFs [Foreign Terrorist Fighters] to the Syrian Arab Republic and Iraq’. […]