Maldives downplays Commonwealth oversight body visit

“GoM has invited team from CMAG Ministers to visit Maldives in early February to hold constructive dialogue with govt on broad range of issues,” a tweet by the foreign ministry read. The government’s claim came after a meeting with jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed and British Prime Minister David Cameron. Jailed former president Nasheed had sought permission to go abroad for a surgery on his back, but Correctional Service had repeatedly denied the request insisting that the microdiscectomy surgery could be done in the Maldives. However, in an apparent U-turn, foreign ministry announced on twitter last week that the government had granted permission to Nasheed to travel to the UK to undergo surgery, at his request. Nasheed arrived at Heathrow Airport Thursday, where he was pictured with his lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of Hollywood star George Clooney. He left the Maldives on Monday for Sri Lanka after resolving a last-minute legal dispute with the government over his 30-day release for the spinal cord surgery in the UK. He then left for Britain on Thursday. In a statement after the meeting, a Downing Street spokesperson said the former president and the prime minister agreed that while Nasheed’s release was a positive step, more needed to be done and it was important for the Maldivian government to maintain momentum, which was necessary if real change is to be delivered. According to the spokesperson, the prime minister and Nasheed agreed that the the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) visit to the Maldives next month would be an opportunity for all Commonwealth members to send a consistently strong message on the need for the Maldivian government to engage in open political dialogue and free all remaining political prisoners swiftly. “… the Prime Minister told Mr Nasheed that the UK would continue to raise concerns about the erosion of democracy and wider situation in the Maldives and it would also continue to discuss the situation with international partners, including how best the international community can make its concerns clear to the Maldivian government,” the statement read. CMAG deals with serious or persistent violations of the Harare Declaration, which contains the Commonwealth's fundamental political values. It was established by Commonwealth Heads of Government in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1995. CMAG's task is to assess the nature of infringements and recommend measures for collective Commonwealth action aimed at speedy restoration of democracy and constitutional rule. The group is convened by the Commonwealth Secretary General and made up of a representative of the Commonwealth’s Chairperson-in-Office and a rotating group of foreign ministers from eight countries. It is reconstituted at every Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Ministers generally serve two terms. CMAG's composition, terms of reference and operation is decided and reviewed every two years. The Maldives had previously been included in the CMAG’s agenda twice, the first following the controversial power transfer in 2012 which saw the resignation of then President Mohamed Nasheed amid a police mutiny and mass public protests. A Commonwealth-backed national enquiry commission later declared the power transfer lawful. Cameron, whose Conservative Party maintains close ties with Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), has on several occasions called on the government to release Nasheed. Government’s U-turn on Nasheed came in the wake of visits by the Indian foreign secretary and two senior Sri Lankan ministers which also coincides with a visit by the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of UK Hugo Swire who arrived earlier Sunday. Indian foreign secretary Jaishankar arrived in Maldives Monday afternoon on a one-day official visit as a special envoy of the Indian prime minister. President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom briefed Jaishankar on the political developments in the Maldives and secured the regional superpower's backing in domestic and international affairs. Sri Lankan foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera and finance minister Ravi Karunanayake arrived in Maldives Wednesday evening on an official visit. Government, however, brushed off Tuesday opposition claims that the medical leave for Nasheed's surgery in the UK came after international pressure, insisting that it was a "humanitarian initiative" by the government. The move by the government to allow Nasheed to travel abroad has been hailed by top officials of several countries, most notably the US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had described it as a step in the right direction. “… urge more engagement from government of Maldives on democracy, shared challenges,” one of this tweets read. Before his departure, Nasheed was pictured speaking on the phone with the top US diplomat. The jailing of former president Nasheed and other politically motivated trials have made the Maldives the subject of mounting international criticism. International pressure was further fuelled after a UN panel ruled Nasheed's incarceration illegal. The former president’s lawyers have stepped up their efforts to impose targeted sanctions against the Maldives and its leadership, following the ruling by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention late September declaring his imprisonment as arbitrary. In the latest development, the European parliament passed a resolution last month condemning the human rights abuses of President Yameen's government, and calling for targeted sanctions to be imposed on his officials and supporters in the business community. The latest efforts by Nasheed's lawyers to seek US sanctions against the Maldives follows condemnation by top US officials of the former president's sentence. In his speech in Sri Lanka on May 2, the US Secretary of State John Kerry had said that the Maldives democracy was under threat. “… former President Nasheed has been imprisoned without due process. And that is an injustice that must be addressed soon,” he had said. In November, a group of high profile US senators introduced a resolution calling on the Maldives government to free Nasheed and other political prisoners. The submission was led by Senator Patrick Leahy and was backed by a coalition of 31 senators including John McCain, Marco Rubio and Richard Durbin. According to the bill, it was aimed at expressing the sense of Congress that the government of the Maldives should immediately release Nasheed and all other political prisoners in the country, and guarantee due process for, and respect the human rights of, all of the people of the Maldives. The US has been joined by several international organisations, including the United Nations and Commonwealth in criticising the rushed trial of Nasheed. On September 14, in his opening statement at the 30th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad had warned that the Maldives government was manipulating the rule of law in order to achieve its political ends. ‘‘Given the deeply tainted nature of this case, I urge the government to release him, and to review several hundred pending criminal cases against opposition supporters in relation to protests in recent months,” he had said, in reference to Nasheed’s detention. However, the government has on various occasions rejected efforts by Nasheed's lawyers to impose sanctions against the Maldives describing them as a political move aimed to unduly influence a legal process. India, the Maldives' closest neighbour and ally, also opposes such action. Meanwhile, the former president had filed for appeal his prison sentence after backtracking on his decision to not appeal his sentence by opting to go to the Supreme Court instead.
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