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Maldives police asked to produce Nasheed in Court

Mohammed Nasheed saga in Maldives is taking a curious turn. Charged with abuse of power, the former President was to go on trial on Monday Oct 2. But he not only failed to show up in the court and was seen sailing out of Male ignoring a travel ban. The judge summoned him to appear in the court on Oct 7.He may not heed the summons since he has decided to boycott the trial.  On his part the Judge appears conscious of the political ramifications of the stand off and has not asked the police to arrest the ‘first democratically’ elected President. The order to the police was merely a direction to produce the former president.


A showdown between Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party and the government of President Mohamed Waheed appears imminent. This prognosis is based on the MDP assertion that Nasheed has no plans to return to Male until October 13 from the South where he is campaigning. Southern Maldives is his stronghold. “We do not accept these courts and president Nasheed will abide by the MDP decision not to accept any orders or decisions of these courts,” said MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor.
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Before setting out on his campaign, Nasheed said that he did not expect a fair hearing from the court and rejected the charges. “I don’t think the charges are correct,” he said. If he is convicted in the case he faces the prospects of a jail term of up to three years and ban from entering elections. Prison life is not new to Nasheed as he was jailed several times as he campaigned against human rights violations and the Gayoom rule in the past. Now he is back in the campaign mode.

Nasheed’s troubles with the judiciary are a fall-out of his decision as President to send the military to arrest a senior judge in January. The decision fuelled already simmering anti-government protests. It led to police mutiny in February and his downfall. Nasheed still justifies his order arguing that the judiciary in the Maldives is deeply politicised. The events that culminated in Waheed becoming President are not a coup, according to the present regime. Its account was backed by an internal inquiry report in August, and it has since been endorsed by the Commonwealth.

As the Economist says Maldives’ political chasm concerns democracy and governance as well as religion. There is an ascendancy of Islamic radicals. The party of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled Maldives for 30 years until 2008, is back in power and to its old authoritarian ways. The economy is in a bad shape and spending on the armed forces and the police has risen sharply.  Investors are shying away; tourism- the mainstay of economy is hit pushing the budget deficit to around 30 per cent of GDP.

These political and economic tensions don’t appear to deter the US from conducting biannual joint exercises with Maldives this week end.   The US Marine Corps and Maldives National Defence Force will conduct the exercises which will last for ten days on the southernmost island of Gan.  The First Marine Expeditionary Force, based in Camp Pendleton, California and Maritime Sealift Command will be featured in the exercises, according to the US embassy. The exercise will include several days of medical training and combat lifesaving techniques, as well as convoy operations and general military skills training.  

-yamaaraar

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