The U.S. State Department is warning travelers about going to the Maldives, raising its travel advisory to a level two.
In its advisory on Tuesday, officials advised people to “Exercise increased caution in Maldives due to terrorism.”
The department also said, “Terrorist groups may attack with little or no warning” in areas such as tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets, shopping malls, and local government facilities.
Authorities warned of attacks on remote islands where the response time of authorities would be longer due to the location.
In 2023, the department issued a report on international religious freedom focusing on the Maldives.
It’s executive summary stated:
The constitution designates Islam as the state religion, requires citizens to be Muslim, and requires public office holders, including the President, to be followers of Sunni Islam. The constitution provides for limitations on rights and freedoms “to protect and maintain the tenets of Islam” and does not specifically establish religious freedom nor identify religion as a category on which discrimination is prohibited. The law states that both the government and the people must protect religious unity, and propagation of any religion other than Islam is a criminal offense. The law criminalizes “criticism of Islam” and speech “in a manner likely to cause religious segregation.” The penal code permits the administration of certain sharia punishments, such as flogging, stoning, and amputation of hands.
In January, the YouTube channel Island Hopper TV described the Maldives and said it is a Muslim country that has Sharia law “largely intact.”
The channel’s reporter also said people are allowed to wear bathing suits and bikinis at the resorts but anywhere else men and women were expected to dress modestly:
Breitbart News reported in 2017 that one journalist’s disappearance and the murder of a second caused government officials in the “once moderate Islamic Maldives island chain” to worry that radical Islam was gaining ground and putting tourists at risk.
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