Nearly eight months after he was toppled as leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago, Mr Nasheed is due to appear in the dock over accusations that he abused his power by ordering the arrest of a senior judge during his tenure, reports the UK’s Telegraph newspaper.
The arrest fuelled already simmering anti-government protests which culminated in a police mutiny in February and led to Mr Nasheed’s deputy being installed as president.
The climate change campaigner, who was tortured during previous stints in jail for his political activism, insists that he was threatened by armed rebel officers and forced to announce his resignation on television.
“The judiciary in the Maldives is so deeply politicised, there is no chance of a fair trial, particularly in a case as political as this,” he said.
The 45-year-old became leader after the Maldives held their first democratic elections in 2008 following three decades of autocratic rule by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
A conviction could see Mr Nasheed handed a jail term of up to three years in prison or banishment to an small islet, a move that would disqualify him from running for office.
The case centres around Mr Nasheed’s decision in January to send the military to arrest the head of the country’s criminal court Abdullah Mohamed on charges of corruption, misconduct and favouring then-opposition figures.
Mr Nasheed justified the arrest saying that the judicial service commission had failed to take action against the judge, who had a string of allegations against him.
Apart from the criminal case, Mr Nasheed now faces two defamation suits filed against him by Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz and by Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim.
(0)Dislikes
(0)Related Posts
Worry over Xi’s trip to Maldives: The Telegraph (Calcutta)- Maldives protestors hijack Twitter hashtag: Telegraph
- Maldivian President reneged on early elections deal: UK Telegraph
- Maldives’ carbon neutral goal proving formidably hard and expensive: Telegraph
- Satirical news blog dupes Maldives media
- Addu “tailor-made for the lazy tropical cyclist”: UK Telegraph
Nasheed arrested the judge illegally and Nasheed is not above the law.
Nasheed lost his office due to his arrogance supreme attitude and dictatorship. Maldivian want a democratic leader not a dictator .
Nasheed can not justified the arrest of Politician without having any legal ground and arrest of the judge illegally.
Nasheed is worst than Gayyom and Nasheed shown more dictatorship than Gayyoom since our constitution had not allowed Anni to rule the country like the way it was able to do by Gayyom by the old constitution.
In the old constitution , Gayyoom was given the total authority over the judiciary and even the parliament to some extend. But new constitution does not allow the President to meddle with these independent bodies.
We changed the constitution and changes the leader to have true democracy but we only we saw the face changed but the guy tried to rule the country as a dictator.