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MALE (Reuters) - Maldives police arrested 25 people under a state of emergency, opposition legislators said on Saturday, after thousands of protesters gathered a day earlier to call for the detention of the president and release of opposition leaders.
The tiny Indian Ocean archipelago, best known for its luxury hotels and dive resorts, imposed a 15-day state of emergency on Feb. 5 to annul a Supreme Court ruling ordering the release of nine leading opposition figures.
Shortly after imposing the state of emergency, President Abdulla Yameen’s administration arrested two Supreme Court judges and detained former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on allegations that he solicited bribes to topple the government.
Thousands gathered in locations across the 15 islands in protest on Friday to demand the arrest of the president and the enforcement of the court ruling to free the opposition leaders.
Ahmed Mahloof, a legislator from the main opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP), told Reuters 25 people, including two journalists, had been detained, based on numbers gathered via the party’s telephone hotline. “Police have so far refused to tell us how many were arrested. We don’t have any access to them,” he said. “We don’t know where they are being held. Police has said they are arrested under state of emergency and that they don’t have to give the information.” Raajee TV, an independent media outlet, said police had attacked journalists covering the Friday’s protests and said one had been treated for injuries.
Police declined to comment on any arrests or other incidents related to the protest, which was the latest in a series of demonstrations against Yameen’s government.
Police told hundreds of protesters near the Artificial Beach area of Male that demonstrations were prohibited in the capital, drawing boos from the crowd. Police dispersed the rally using pepper spray and detained several protesters, a witness said.
Police also closed down the main MDP campaign office near Artificial Beach, the opposition said.
Demonstrators later gather in two other locations of Male, before being police dispersed them and made several further arrests, the witness said.
Geneva (Reuters): Maldives will seek help from other countries to investigate judges suspected of taking bribes and “hijacking” the Supreme Court to drag the island nation into political crisis, a senior Maldives diplomat told Reuters in an interview.
The tiny Indian Ocean archipelago, best known for its luxury hotels and dive resorts, imposed a 15-day state of emergency on Feb. 5 to annul a ruling from the court ordering the release of nine leading opposition figures.
“That was a direct attempt by the Supreme Court to halt the whole country and go into a deadlock,” said Ahmed Shiaan, Maldives ambassador to the European Union.
He showed Reuters a Maldives police statement which said a bag containing $ 215,000 and 150,000 rufiyaa ($ 9,700) belonging to one Supreme Court judge had been found, and that $ 2.4 million had been separately wired to the judge by a private firm.
Shiaan said that judge, and a second judge on the Supreme Court, had been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes from former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to deliver certain verdicts in his favour. Gayoom himself has been arrested over allegations that he solicited bribes to topple the government. “Together, it amounted to collusion to use the Supreme Court to overthrow a democratically elected and constitutional government,” Shiaan said in the interview. Gayoom’s lawyer Maumoon Hameed said he was detained under the state of emergency without any evidence or due process, which was unacceptable. “If this is such a huge investigation and Gayoom is a dangerous person of interest why have they not questioned him in over 140 hours?”
Lawyers for the two judges said their clients also denied all the charges. One said his client had been refused permission to deny the charges.
