During the first press conference held since Nasheed's imprisonment in March, Washington-based lawyer Jared Genser said the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention had rejected the government appeal of its decision in September "without comment." "That means the UN panel's decision is now final," Genser flanked by Nasheed and his high profile co-counsel which includes legal heavyweights such as London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and her fellow British attorney Ben Emmerson said. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made its ruling in the report made public in October after Nasheed filed the case claiming that his detention was unlawful. The five-member independent panel called for his immediate release. The government has on several occasions rejected the UN panel’s ruling. It had repeatedly said that it would only follow the country’s constitution, domestic laws and verdicts issued by local courts. Nasheed and his lawyers reiterated on the need to keep pressure on the government for democratic reform and echoed calls for sanctions. Genser highlighted that Nasheed's release had come about as a "direct result of the threat of sanctions." Clooney, who is married to Hollywood film star George Clooney, argued for "urgent" targeted sanctions against figures in the Maldives government allegedly responsible for human rights abuses, including asset freezes in the European Union and US and travel bans. "Sanctions can work, especially those cases of targeted, smart sanctions," she added. Shortly before the packed press conference, the Maldives government hit out at Nasheed, accusing him of using his prison leave for publicity purposes. "It is now clear the former president has been disingenuous at best, and misleading at worst, in seeking medical leave in the UK," foreign minister Dunya Maumoon said in a statement. "The government acted in good faith in allowing Mr Nasheed to travel abroad for treatment. Yet it is now clear his primary goal was to court publicity in the United Kingdom. This is not medical leave, but media leave." Nasheed, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison in March for ordering the arbitrary detention of chief criminal judge Abdulla Mohamed during his presidency, is in Britain for an urgent surgery. The former president 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. He departed to the UK on Monday for medical treatment. 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.