Amnesty demands release of jailed Maldives judges

Malé, Maldives:  Amnesty International on Tuesday called for the immediate release of top judges detained in the Maldives, warning the "eyes of the world" were on the worsening crisis in the troubled islands.
Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another Supreme Court judge were arrested at dawn Tuesday after President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency to head off impeachment.
Their detention raised the stakes after Yameen refused to comply with the court's order to release political dissidents, plunging the tiny Indian Ocean nation into crisis and sparking a strong US protest.
Yameen, facing threats from a galvanised political opposition to impeach him for alleged corruption, told the nation in a televised address that the judges were detained for plotting his overthrow.
Amnesty urged the embattled regime leader against using the state of emergency as a cover for rights abuses.
"The world's eyes are on the Maldives right now and human rights must not become a casualty of this ongoing crisis," the watchdog's director Biraj Patnaik said in a statement.
Maldivian security forces stormed the Supreme Court after arresting former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom for conspiracy against Yameen, his estranged half brother.
Gayoom, 80, was president for 30 years until he was defeated in the Maldives' first democratic election in 2008. Gayoom has sided with the opposition in a bid to defeat Yameen at elections due later this year.
The Supreme Court ordered Yameen release nine political prisoners, saying the charges against them were politically motivated.
Almost all of Yameen's opponents have been jailed or forced into exile since he took office in 2013 and began slowly cracking down on dissent.
Yameen's decision to shutdown parliament and order armed troops to storm courtrooms have drawn international condemnation and warnings to travellers to avoid the upmarket holiday paradise.