Maldives

The Maldives Independent journalist was murdered at sea in the early hours of August 8, 2014, the inquiry commission’s chair Husnu Suood told the press on Sunday, three weeks after declaring that suspects have been identified with enough evidence for prosecution and pledging to disclose findings.

But statements from three witnesses were “not conclusive” to establish death as there were discrepancies in descriptions of how the murder was committed, he stressed.

After he was abducted at knife-point and forced into a car outside his apartment building in the capital suburb’s Hulhumalé, Rilwan was put on a dinghy and transferred to another vessel, Suood said.

The 28-year-old was covered with a net and killed after he was made to recite the shahada, the Islamic declaration of belief in the oneness of God, witnesses told the commission. There were disagreements among the group about killing him after the profession of faith but some believed he deserved death as a punishment, Suood said, declining to reveal further details as the probe was ongoing." https://maldivesindependent.com/crime-2/rilwan-killed-by-maldives-group-linked-to-al-qaeda-presidential-commission-reveals-147705

Obviously, there may be some loosely meshed aspects of the assessment, whereas, it may have been unlikely that with a name like Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla, a shahada or profession of faith was necessary; whereat, not to generalize, or be simplistically quick and judgmental, however, some names are only allowable if a person is deeply embedded in the Islam practice post about 1400 years, hence, names like Ahmed, in its significance, and Abdulla, the name of the one called or alluded to as Ahmed, having significance, it is very difficult to mundanely say otherwise.

Back to what happened, in terms of Al-Qaeda and either cells in the Maldives or individualls that got sucked into a trap by Al-Qaeda and the result effect was they were tricked and used as cells, basically reports say that:

"The roots of Rilwan’s abduction – as well as the attempted murder of blogger Ismail Khilath Rasheed in June 2012, the assassination of lawmaker Dr Afrasheem Ali in October 2012 and the murder of blogger Yameen Rasheed in April 2017, which were all “connected” and carried out by the same extremist group – could be traced to an “ideological dispute” that started between Maldivian freethinkers and extremists on social media in 2010, Suood explained."
https://maldivesindependent.com/crime-2/rilwan-killed-by-maldives-group-linked-to-al-qaeda-presidential-commission-reveals-147705

From the summary of the Commission report: 
"According to the statement given by secret witness one, there is a connection between Maldivians living in Syria and the leaders of the jihadi extremist organisation, Mazeed and Somith, with the two carrying out activities in the Maldives on behalf of the Maldivian fighters in Syria. Bilad al-Sham media claims to be the representatives for Maldivians fighting in Syria." https://maldivesindependent.com/crime-2/translation-summary-of-report-on-rilwans-abduction-147805

This source, https://maldivesindependent.com/crime-2/translation-summary-of-report-on-rilwans-abduction-147805, is the main summary of the Commission.

The journalist was killed by a local al-Qaeda affiliate, an inquiry commission concluded.

Published 5 days ago on September 8, 2019
By Mohamed Junayd"

"The following is an unofficial translation of the summary conclusions of a draft report compiled by the presidential commission on unresolved murders and enforced disappearances into the abduction of Maldives Independent journalist Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla. 4. In the following year, the group of freethinkers held a gathering at the artificial beach on December 10, 2011. The purpose of this silent protest was to call for religious freedom and space for freethinkers in the Maldives. This is was the beginning of physical confrontations between the religious extremist group and individuals belonging to the group of freethinkers. Aside from the disturbance that took place during the confrontation, the two groups further exchanged a war of words on social media, wrote on blogs, and the religious extremist jihadi organisation made a list of people who “insult Islam,” warned that they will be “erased” and kept issuing death threats to them.

18. According to the statements given to the commission by secret witness one and secret witness two, until the opportunity is available to go abroad for jihad, the leaders of the group try to find out what can be done as jihad in the Maldives and orders the recruits to carry out jihadi activities with the intention of attaining paradise through jihad.
[This gives an rough sketch of the general behavior]

27. From the conversation between Abu Dujana and Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla on May 27, 2014, it is clear that the decision to kill Ahmed Rilwan Abdulla was made by the Maldivian organization in Syria and the jihadi extremist recruiters in Maldives.

28. On May 29, 2014 Bilad al-Sham media issued a warning statement due to the reporting done by Minivan News in May and the efforts by Maldives Police Service to investigate Maldivians leaving to fight in Syria and the recruitment of fighters.