Maldives former dictator, judges charged with terrorism, US urges Yameen to lift emergency

 Authorities charged the Maldives longtime former dictator and top judges and police officials with terrorism as the government deals with political turmoil that prompted a weeks-long state of emergency.

The nine people charged at the criminal court included Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the 30-year ruler of the Indian Ocean archipelago state; Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed; four lawmakers including Gayoom's son; and a former police commissioner. Prosecutors did not specify the grounds on which they are charged with terrorism. If convicted, they could be jailed for 10 to 15 years. All three also were charged with obstruction of justice on suspicion of refusing to hand over their phones to investigators.

Saeed, Hameed and another judicial officer were charged with receiving bribes to help overthrow the government. Gayoom and the judges were arrested last month following a Supreme Court order to release several of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's political opponents who were jailed after trials that involved alleged due-process violations. After the government arrested the two judges, the three remaining judges annulled the order to release the opponents. The president is a half-brother of the former dictator, who are now political enemies. Among the prisoners named in the court order was Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first president elected in a free election. He was jailed for 13 years under the terror law for detaining a sitting judge when he was in power in 2012 but received asylum in Britain when he traveled there for medical treatment.

Had he been cleared, Nasheed could have been a strong rival to Yameen in the presidential election scheduled for later this year. However, Yameen is now poised to run for re-election virtually unopposed with all of his rivals are either jailed or in exile. Gayoom ruled the Maldives between 1978 and 2008, before losing a free election to Nasheed, whom he had repeatedly jailed. Nasheed resigned in 2012, four years into his presidency, amid public opposition to his order for the military to detain a judge. Nasheed lost to Yameen in the 2013 presidential election and then was jailed for ordering the judge's detention.
Since being elected, Yameen has rolled back much of the democratic gains and freedoms.

Apart from Nasheed, Yameen's former vice president and a defense minister are among the many who have been jailed since Yameen took office. The country's traditional political alliances have been upended in recent years. Gayoom, who campaigned for Yameen in 2013, is now allied with Nasheed, who unseated him in the 2008 elections. The state of emergency, which was criticized by several foreign governments, is due to expire Thursday, and a Maldives envoy has said the government had no plan to extend it. Ambassador Mohamed Hussain Shareef told journalists in neighboring Sri Lanka the state of emergency had allowed time for the government to investigate corruption allegations against the judges who issued the order.

The Maldives is an archipelago of more than 1,000 islands. Tourism dominates the economy, with wealthy foreigners flown directly to hyper-expensive resort islands.

The United States on Tuesday urged President Abdulla Yameen to lift the state of emergency in the Maldives and restore the rule of law. "We continue to call on President Yameen to end the state of emergency, uphold the rule of law, permit the full and proper functioning of Parliament, and restore the constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people of the Maldives," a State Department Spokesperson told PTI.

The spokesperson was responding to a question on the recent meetings that Maldivian opposition leaders has had with officials of the State Department and other wings of the Trump administration. State Department officials met with the former Maldivian Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem in Washington on March 15, the spokesperson said. "They exchanged perspectives on the current situation in the Maldives," the spokesperson added.
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on the Maldivian authorities to immediately free two journalists with opposition TV channel Raajje TV who have been held for the past four days, and to "stop hounding" the country's opposition media.

"We urge the authorities to immediately release the two journalists, whose detention has been extended without any concrete evidence being produced to support a judicial investigation," said Daniel Bastard, the head of RSF's Asia-Pacific desk. "The authorities must stop harassing Raajje TV on the grounds that it does not support President Yameen's government. "With the country under the yoke of an extended state of emergency, respect for media freedom is the best way to emerge from this persistent crisis and thereby serve the public interest," Bastard said.