COLOMBO: Maldives authorities yesterday prevented the former president who was ousted in February from leaving the island nation to visit his ill father in Bangkok, a party lawmaker said.
Mohamed Nasheed, 45, who resigned after what he alleges was a coup, is awaiting trial by a special court on charges of giving an illegal order when he was in office to have a judge arrested.
If convicted, he could be jailed or banished to a remote island for three years.
Maldives has been rocked by violent protests over the past year in a standoff between Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party and its opponents, who are now in power.
“We believe this is pure harassment and such behaviour towards a former president cannot be tolerated,” Maria Didi, a MDP lawmaker, said.
Nasheed, who won the first free elections in the Maldives in 2008, was forced out after prolonged public demonstrations against him and a mutiny by police.
His trial has been suspended and his lawyers said he was granted leave to travel freely until January 5. AFP
