COLOMBO: The Maldives announced that it will seek the arrest of former president Mohamed Nasheed, for failing to return to the troubled region to complete a prison sentence after receiving medical treatment in Britain. The country's first democratically elected president, Nasheed had recently won political asylum in Britain after being granted permission to travel for treatment while on a sentence for a terror-related offence.
A Government statement issued after the president flew to Sri Lanka, said, "A court order issued for arrest of former president Mohamed Nasheed. The Maldives correctional service is seeking to have him brought back to serve the remainder of his 13-year sentence." Sources from the opposition said he has been meeting Maldives opposition groups in Sri Lanka recently, to plan and topple president Abdulla Yameen.
The Maldives found itself stuck in major political turmoil after the president was forced to resign in 2012. A climate change activist who was also imprisoned during the three-decade rule of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Nasheed became president in 2008, and rose to international fame for hosting a cabinet meeting underwater to bring attention to the rising global warming. He was, however, forced to resign after a mutiny by police and troops. US Secretary of State John Kerry had warned last year that the democracy in the Maldives seemed under threat, adding the president was "imprisoned without due process".
Yameen, a half-brother of former strongman Gayoom, won a presidential election run-off against Nasheed in late 2013. Nasheed was sentenced to prison in March 2015 after being convicted on a charge of terrorism for having the judge arrested. Sources close to Nasheed said he was "keen" to discuss the Maldives turmoil with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is due to arrive in Colombo late Wednesday on a two-day visit for talks with Sri Lankan leaders. "He would be keen to meet with Ban Ki-moon," a person close to Nasheed said, adding that no formal request for a meeting has been made.
