The Maldives Police Service has said it is investigating former Deputy Minister Hassan Zihan over remarks he made on social media about setting fire to key state institutions.
Zihan, who served as a Deputy Minister at the Transport Ministry under the current government, wrote on Facebook, in reference to a news report about a fire at Albania's Supreme Court, asking "why can't we set fire" to the Supreme Court, the President's Office and the People's Majlis, and saying it "would be fun". Police said the remarks had been reported to them and that they are looking into the matters that need to be investigated in connection with them.
After deleting those posts, Zihan said in a new post that he does not intend to set fire to any place, but that the long-serving figures at the Supreme Court, the President's Office and the Majlis have left young people nothing but a burnt-out heap of rubbish. He also described the country as completely ruined and reduced to ashes.
Zihan was dismissed from the post of Deputy Minister at the Transport Ministry in 2024. He previously served as a naval architect at the rank of First Lieutenant in the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), and has strongly criticised both the previous government, after he was dismissed from that post, and the current government, after his removal as deputy minister.
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