MALDIVES’ GAYOOM CHARGED WITH TERRORISM
EXDICTATOR, SEVERAL JUDGES IN THE DOCK FOR BID TO TOPPLE PREZ AMEEN
COLOMBO: Maldivian authorities have charged former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and several senior judges with “terrorism” for attempting to topple President Abdulla Yameen, the government said Wednesday.
Eighty-year-old Gayoom and ten others — including the sacked chief justice Abdulla Saeed — were charged under state of emergency laws imposed in the paradise tourist island last month.
Yameen declared the draconian laws in February in a bid to prevent himself from being impeached by the national parliament after he lost his majority following a Supreme Court ruling.
The prosecutor general’s office said Gayoom, who ruled the country for 30 straight years until 2008, had been charged with attempting an “act of terrorism and obstruction of justice”.
Gayoom’s legislator son Faris Maumoon and son-in-law were also charged.