Mass ‘arrests’ at Maldives over jailing of ex-president Nasheed
Kerry says Male democracy at risk; UN slams ‘trials’ PM Sharif praises army for defeating Waziristan militants
MALE, Maldives, May 2, (AFP): Police in the Maldives said Saturday they had made nearly 200 arrests during clashes at a protest over the jailing of former president Mohamed Nasheed, after the UN’s top rights body denounced his trial as unfair.
Riot police fired tear gas and baton-charged the late night protest on the honeymoon islands, said witnesses to what was the biggest show of support for Nasheed since he was handed a 13-year jail term in March.
Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said one of its top lieutenants were among those arrested on the capital island of Male, while the head of the largest Islamist party in the mainly Sunni Muslim nation was detained.
The streets of Male appeared to be calm Saturday morning as police put the number of arrests at 193.
While Nasheed’s supporters said the “brutal” crackdown could not be justified, authorities insisted they acted lawfully in breaking up the protest.
“The organisers of the protest addressed the protesters and called on all gathered to topple the government and confront the police,” a government statement said.
MDP spokeswoman Shauna Aminath said 195 people had been arrested since Friday evening when the protest began.
The party said President Abdulla Yameen’s security forces had responded to what it called a peaceful protest “with tear gas, baton charges (and) stun grenades”.
“All key opposition figures are now under arrest,” Aminath told AFP. “It was a brutal crackdown by the regime.”
She said the party’s chairman Ali Waheed had been arrested along with Sheik Imran, leader of the main Islamic Adhaalath Party, who was an organiser of Friday’s protest.
Yameen came to power in late 2013 after controversially beating Nasheed in a run-off election despite trailing in the first round.
Nasheed, a climate change activist who was imprisoned during the three-decade rule of former strongman ruler Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, became the archipelago’s first democratically elected leader in 2008.
He was toppled in February 2012 after a mutiny by police and troops that followed weeks of protests over his ordering of the arrest of a top judge who had been appointed by Gayoom.
The arrest formed the centrepiece of Nasheed’s prosecution. His conviction triggered widespread international condemnation and alarm in regional powerhouse India.
The MDP put the number of people taking part in Friday night’s protest at 25,000, a huge figure given the islands’ population is only around 330,000. There was no word on the turnout from police.
The protest came only hours after the United Nations criticised the jailing of Nasheed on March 13 on anti-terror charges as “arbitrary” and said the sentencing had followed a “vastly unfair trial”.
The UN Human Rights Office said their delegation, which visited Male late last month, found Nasheed had been subjected to a “rushed trial” under a system that was highly politicised.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday that democracy was in danger in the Maldives as police made nearly 200 arrests at a protest over the jailing of the paradise islands’ ex-president.
But while authorities defended their use of force to break up the protest, Kerry added his voice to the growing chorus of criticism of President Abudulla Yameen’s regime.