Maldives attorney general says court can’t oust president

The Maldives’ attorney general warned the country’s Supreme Court on Sunday that a move to unseat the president would be unconstitutional, amid a political crisis that has left the government in chaos since late last week.

Attorney General Mohamed Anil said at a news conference that he had heard “rumours that the Supreme Court is going to order the impeachment” of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

He said that the president can be ousted only through a vote in parliament and that police and security forces would not obey an impeachment order from an “illegitimate set of people.”

Mohammed Nasheed, the Indian Ocean archipelago’s exiled former president and Yameen’s main rival, responded angrily on Twitter, saying comments from Anil and other officials were “tantamount to a coup.”

“Security services must uphold the constitution and serve the Maldivian people,” Nasheed tweeted.

Under Maldivian law, a vote for impeachment removes a president from office.

The crisis, which has included repeated rounds of clashes between police and opposition protesters, began when the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that all politicians opposed to Yameen, including Nasheed, be released.

As of Sunday, no prisoners had been released. The government said it had been advised by the chief justice to follow due process in releasing the prisoners.

A government statement on Sunday said the prosecutor general had appraised the Supreme Court on the “numerous legal challenges” in the implementation of the ruling.

In an apparent response to the statement, the Supreme Court said in a news release that “there are no obstacles in implementing the ruling and releasing political prisoners and that this has been informed to the Prosecutor General’s office.”

Nasheed has been living in exile in Britain since 2016 after being given asylum when he travelled there on medical leave from prison.

In addition to ordering the release of the political prisoners, the court also reinstated 12 lawmakers who had been ousted for switching allegiance to the opposition. When those lawmakers return, Yameen’s Progressive Party of the Maldives will lose its majority in the 85-member parliament, which can result in the legislative body functioning as a rival power to the president.