Maldives declares a state of emergency
male (Maldives) — Beleaguered Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen has declared a 15-day state of emergency, his aide Azima Shukoor announced on state television on Monday.
The move gives sweeping powers to security forces to arrest and detain suspects, and comes amid a deepening political crisis in the Indian Ocean nation as Yameen refuses to comply with a Supreme Court order to release political prisoners.
The political crisis in the Maldives deepened Monday, as the government of the island nation said it would not obey a Supreme Court order to free a group of imprisoned opposition leaders.
The surprise judicial ruling last week has led to an increasingly tense standoff between the Supreme Court and the government of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom, with protests spilling into the streets of the capital, Male, and soldiers in riot gear deployed to the parliament building to stop lawmakers from meeting.
On Monday, Legal Affairs Minister Azima Shakoor said that “the government does not believe that the Supreme Court ruling to release the political prisoners can be enforced.” She explained the decision by saying that the Supreme Court had not acted on a series of government letters saying there were “numerous challenges” to implementing it. On Sunday, a Supreme Court statement said 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.”
There was no immediate comment from Yameen’s main rival, exiled former President Mohammed Nasheed, who is among the prisoners ordered freed.
The Supreme Court ruled that the political leaders’ guilty verdicts had been politically influenced. The ruling has led to protests by opposition supporters urging the government to obey the order. Clashes erupted between police and the political opponents on Thursday and Friday. Soldiers surrounded the parliament building over the weekend to stop lawmakers from entering the building.
The United Nations and several foreign governments, including the United States, have urged the Maldives to respect the court order. 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 parliament, which could result in the legislative body functioning as a rival power to the president.