Maldives ex-president sentenced to 13 years in jail

A Maldivian criminal court has sentenced the country’s former president and opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed to 13 years in prison after convicting him of a terrorism charge.

The three-judge panel announced the verdict late on Friday, declaring Nasheed, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s first democratically elected president, guilty of ordering, while in office, the unlawful arrest of a senior judge.

Following the ruling, Nasheed was transported to the Dhoonidhoo prison, near the capital island of Malé.

Through his office, Nasheed called on his supporters to continue the street protests that erupted in the country when the opposition leader was arrested on February 22.

“I appeal to all of you today to stay courageous and strong, to confront the dictatorial power of this regime,” Nasheed’s office cited him as saying.

The verdict came four days after Nasheed’s lawyers resigned in protest against what they described as a biased trial aimed at destroying the former president’s political career as the incarceration will effectively stop him from running for a new term in office in 2018 elections.

Nasheed was charged three years ago over the detention of Judge Abdulla Mohamed for alleged corruption. The former president has rejected the accusations and has maintained his innocence throughout the judicial process.

Meanwhile, the US voiced “concern” at the “apparent lack of appropriate criminal procedures” during Nasheed’s trial.

This is while Maldives’ neighbor India did not give an immediate comment on the ruling, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently dropped the archipelago from a tour of Indian Ocean countries following the arrest of Nasheed.

In response to the criticism of Nasheed’s detention, incumbent President Abdulla Yameen has said “everything is (happening) according to the law,” adding, “This is an internal matter for the Maldives. We are an independent country since 1965.”

Nasheed, who had to resign amid an army mutiny and public protests over the judge’s fate in 2012, lost the country's 2013 presidential election to Yameen.

CAH/MKA/HRB

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