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Maldives court releases key political prisoners in blow to regime
Ex-Maldives president vows to run for office after prisoners freed
(about 14 hours later)
Opposition is given parliamentary majority by surprise ruling against government, prompting calls for President Abdulla Yameen to resign
Mohammed Nasheed to challenge President Yameen amid unrest in capital Malé
Agence France-Presse
Associated Press in Malé
Thu 1 Feb 2018 23.46 GMT
Fri 2 Feb 2018 12.35 GMT
First published on Thu 1 Feb 2018 23.46 GMT
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The Maldives’ top court has ordered the release of nine key political prisoners in a surprise move that has cleared the way for exiled former leader Mohamed Nasheed to run for president.
The exiled former president of the Maldives has said he will run again for office, hours after a surprise supreme court decision to free a group of political prisoners led to unrest in the capital of the Indian Ocean archipelago.
The atoll nation’s joint opposition welcomed the surprise ruling, which has also granted them a parliamentary majority and surprised the government of President Abdulla Yameen.
President Yameen Abdul Gayoom had been set to run for re-election virtually unopposed, with all of his opponents either jailed or exiled, but the former president Mohammed Nasheed, who was among those freed, said he would be a candidate. Yameen has rolled back many democratic reforms since coming to power five years ago.
“The supreme court’s verdict effectively ends President Yameen’s authoritarian rule,” the opposition said in a statement calling for his resignation.
Nasheed was jailed in 2016, but received asylum in Britain later the same year after travelling there on medical leave from prison. He has lived in exile ever since.
The Maldives’ popular image as an upmarket holiday paradise had been severely damaged by a major crackdown on dissent under Yameen, who oversaw the jailing of almost all the political opposition.
“I can contest and I will contest and hopefully we will win it again,” he said from Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Yameen’s spokesman, Ibrahim Hussain Shihab, said the court made its decision without hearing out the government.
The court ruling on Thursday night ordered the release of nine political dissidents, saying their guilty verdicts had been politically influenced. It ordered fresh trials for all nine, but it was not immediately clear how this might affect the elections. The opposition alliance welcomed the ruling in a statement, saying it “effectively ends President Yameen’s authoritarian rule”.
“While the ruling makes significant implications on various points of constitutional import and criminal justice procedures, it was issued without representation of the state from either the attorney general or the prosecutor general,” Shihab said in a statement.
Hundreds of flag-waving Nasheed supporters poured into the streets of Malé after the verdict. Clashes broke out quickly after Yameen fired the country’s police chief, whose department had announced it would uphold the supreme court verdict.
However, he said the administration “will work to engage, and consult with, the supreme court in order to comply with the ruling in line with proper procedure and the rule of law”.
The clashes lasted about three hours, and police dispersed stone-throwing crowds using pepper spray and batons. At least one injured police officer was taken to hospital. It was not immediately clear if there were any arrests, but some protesters were taken away by police.
On the tiny streets of the capital, Male, there were celebrations. Hundreds of opposition activists took to the streets and were quickly pushed back by police who fired teargas.
Malé was quiet on Friday afternoon, but an opposition leader said further protests were planned.
Nasheed, who is currently in neighbouring Sri Lanka, urged his supporters to avoid confrontation with the police.
Atul Keshap, the US ambassador to the Maldives, welcomed the supreme court order. “I urge the government and security services to respect this ruling, which bolsters democracy and rule of law for all Maldivians,” he wrote on Twitter.
“President Yameen must abide by this ruling and resign,” Nasheed said on Twitter. “Urge all citizens to avoid confrontation and engage in peaceful political activity.”
An archipelago known for its luxury tourist resorts, the Maldives became a multiparty democracy 10 years ago after decades of autocratic rule by the president’s half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Nasheed, who is living in self-imposed exile, was sentenced to 13 years in jail on a terrorism charge widely criticised as politically motivated.
Yameen has maintained a tight grip on power, controlling institutions such as the judiciary, police and the bureaucracy. The half-brothers have since fallen out, and Maumoon has joined the opposition.
In its order, seen by AFP, the supreme court said the “questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a retrial”.
The court ordered authorities to immediately free nine jailed leaders.
The Maldives police service said in a tweet that it would abide by court orders, but within minutes the government announced the sacking of police chief Ahmed Areef.
Attorney general Mohamed Anil told a hurriedly summoned press conference at the military headquarters in the capital that Yameen sacked the police chief because he was uncontactable after the court order.
Anil said they were also in the process of “verifying the validity” of the court order.
The court also restored 12 dissident members of parliament who had been controversially expelled in July for defecting from Yameen’s party. The latest order gives Yameen’s opponents a majority in the 85-member parliament.
Earlier this week opposition figures jointly petitioned the court to remove Yameen over alleged corruption.
Opposition figures including Nasheed and another five dissidents named in Thursday’s order have united against the president.
Among those who petitioned the top court was Yameen’s half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whose legislator son, Faris Maumoon, had been arrested. He was among those whose release the court ordered.
Also among them is Ahmed Adeeb, Yameen’s erstwhile deputy, who is serving a 15-year jail term after being convicted on a charge of attempted assassination in September 2015.
Almost all key opposition leaders and a number of ruling party dissidents have either been jailed or gone into exile in the Maldives in recent years under Yameen.
The president took office in 2013 after winning a controversial run-off vote against Nasheed. The former president was jailed in 2015 but granted prison leave in 2016 for medical treatment in London, where he secured political asylum.
