Maldives opposition calls for Indian intervention

FE Team | Published: February 07, 2018 01:08:23

MALE, Feb 06 (Reuters): An exiled former president of the Maldives urged India on Tuesday to send an envoy backed by military to release political detainees after the government of the Indian Ocean archipelago imposed a state of emergency and arrested two senior judges.
Having defied the court ruling, President Abdulla Yameen ordered security forces to seize control of the court and arrest the chief justice and another judge.
Nasheed, who was granted asylum by Britain after the government allowed him to leave jail for medical treatment abroad in 2016, sought Indian intervention to resolve the island's most serious political crisis in years.
"On behalf of Maldivian people we humbly request: India to send envoy, backed by its military, to release judges & pol. detainees... We request a physical presence," Nasheed, who is currently in Colombo, said in a Twitter post.
He also urged the United States to block financial transactions of Yameen's government.
An AFP report adds: As security forces surrounded his home shortly after a state of emergency had been declared in the Maldives, 80-year-old ex-president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom deftly hit social media to tell the world of his impending arrest.
The government quickly sought to control the flow of information out of the famed Indian Ocean holiday islands following its declaration late Monday night, according to local media outlets and the Committee to Protect Journalists, an international watchdog.