(UTV|COLOMBO) – A former president of Maldives, who was in power for three decades, has been arrested at his home as a crackdown on the opposition intensifies.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was detained after the government declared a 15-day state of emergency, suspending parliament and sending police to the Supreme Court.
President Abdulla Yameen has refused to comply with a court order to release political prisoners.
The army have been ordered to resist any move to impeach him.
The court also ruled that the 2015 trial of another former President, Mohamed Nasheed, had been unconstitutional.
Judges who were at the Supreme Court when police arrived have reportedly been held against their will overnight.
Boris Johnson, foreign secretary of the UK, the former colonial power, called on President Yameen to lift the state of emergency.
“The damage being done to democratic institutions in Maldives and the sustained misuse of process in Parliament is deeply worrying,” he said in a statement.
The US National Security Council has warned in a tweet that “the world is watching” the Maldives, which has a population of 400,000 and depends on tourism to power its economy.
Courtesy: BBC
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