Former President Mohamed Nasheed pictured speaking. PHOTO/PRESIDENT’S OFFICE
Former President Mohamed Nasheed on Tuesday urged India and the United States to intervene after the Maldives declared a state of emergency the night before which saw several prominent figures, including former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, arrested.
President Abdulla Yameen had ordered the arrest of his estranged half-brother Maumoon and Maumoon’s son-in-law Mohamed Nadeem, along with Chief Justice Abdullah Saeed, Supreme Court judge Ali Hameed and Judicial Service Administrator Hassan Saeed in a crackdown that followed the state of emergency declaration. While Maumoon and Nadeem were taken under police custody on accusations of bribery and conspiring a coup, the reasons for arresting the two judges and the judicial administrator are unknown.
In a tweet, Nasheed requested the Indian government to send an envoy, along with military backing, to release Maumoon, Nadeem and the judges.
He also urged the US to “stop all financial transactions of Maldives regime leaders going through US banks”.
Nasheed’s request was preceded by a meeting of the joint opposition’s parliamentary group after the crackdown, during which they called on international forces to place economic, diplomatic and legal sanctions on the Maldives. In their resolution, the opposition lawmakers declared that President Abdulla Yameen’s regime has overstepped the boundaries of the Constitution, and urged India, Sri Lanka, the European Union, United Kingdom, US, and other international organisations and allies to take action against the current administration.
Yameen had declared the state of emergency late Monday, which would be in force for a period of 15 days, after a deadlock on the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling last Thursday, which ordered the release of political prisoners and reinstated 12 legislators that were unseated for defecting from the ruling party.