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New Delhi: The Maldivian parliament passed a controversial media regulation Bill in a special session on Tuesday (September 16) even as journalists, opposition MPs and members of the public staged protests against the law outside the premises.

As local media, opposition leaders and rights groups have cautioned against various aspects of the Bill, the US embassy in Male said on Tuesday evening that Washington supports media freedom and urged the Maldives to “uphold the freedoms of expression, including dissenting and opposition voices”.

Per local media reports and opposition leaders, the island country’s parliament that is dominated by President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) passed the Maldives Media and Broadcasting Regulation Bill on Tuesday afternoon, with a legislative committee’s report on the legislation allegedly shared with MPs only after the sitting began at 5 pm.

Seven of the principal opposition Maldivian Democratic Party’s 12 MPs were escorted out of the House after they protested the legislation, following which the Bill received 60 votes from PNC MPs while one MP from the Maldives Development Alliance voted against it.

Outside the legislature,

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