The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made its ruling in the report made public on Monday after Nasheed filed the case claiming that his detention was unlawful. The five-member independent panel called for his immediate release. The country’s top diplomat, fresh off her trip to the US to attend the UN General Assembly, told local reporters that her government would only follow the country’s constitution, domestic laws and verdicts issued by local courts. The government would abide by any ruling issued by the Supreme Court in appeal of Nasheed’s prison sentence, she said. “I’m confident that the Supreme Court will take into account the opinion of the UN working group before issuing its verdict. This is an issue related to the judiciary. There’s nothing the government can do,” foreign minister Dhunya Maumoon said, during the press conference at her ministry in capital Male. Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdulla Mohamed during his presidency. His sentence was allegedly commuted to house arrest in July, but the following month police took him back to prison. Maldives’ international partners including the US, the UK and the UN had said his rushed trial was seriously flawed. However, the prosecutor general in a sudden change of heart had initiated the appeal of the ex-president’s sentence. The High Court had rejected the state's appeal, prompting the prosecutor general to file the case with the Supreme Court. The apex court is yet to hold appeal proceedings. Dhunya stressed that the government had cooperated fully with the UN panel during its review with the hope that it would consider arguments made by both the sides. She called the ruling biased and said it was regrettable. “We thought the working group would thoroughly review the arguments put forward by the government before making its opinion public. But I can’t say that has been the case,” she said. Some countries have even opted to not cooperate with the UN panel in its investigations, the minister said, adding that most of the opinions made by the panel in the past have been rejected by the respective governments. Speaking alongside the minister, Toby Cadman, from the UK-based Omnia Strategy which had been hired by the government to provide legal counsel in reforming existing democratic and legal institutions, said the government was not obligated to follow the UN panel’s opinion. Some world powers, including the US and the UK, have in the past rejected rulings issued by the panel against them, he added. “The working group only gave out its opinion. It’s not legally binding,” Cadman said. Foreign secretary Ali Naseer said the UN panel had previously issued rulings over matters concerning the Maldives. In 2009, the panel declared the prolonged imprisonment of a foreign inmate in the Maldives as arbitrary, and called for his release and him to be compensated accordingly, he said. “The government [led by Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)] at the time rejected the working group’s ruling and instead decided to follow domestic legal procedures,” the foreign secretary said. The government, which is facing increased international pressure over Nasheed’s imprisonment, has on several occasions rejected the UN panel’s ruling. Meanwhile, Nasheed’s lawyers and his party are pushing for targeted sanctions against the government and top officials.