A
nephew to the President of Maldives has been arrested by the police
following an order by the President for criticizing his authoritarian
government.
Members of Yameen's family have turned against him and are seeking to weaken his rule [Reuters]
Maldives President Abdulla Yameen's nephew has been arrested amid
renewed political unrest in the Indian Ocean nation after members of the
president's family turned against him, criticising authoritarian
reversals under his rule, Aljazeera reported.
Court documents revealed that Faris Maumoon was arrested on Tuesday
in the capital Male on charges of bribery. Faris the nephew to the
President had defected to the opposition and has been leading an effort
to unseat Yameen's ally, speaker of parliament Abdulla Maseeh, who has
been accused of ignoring allegations of corruption, mismanagement and
rights abuses.
"The charges against Faris are clearly false," said Eva Abdulla, an opposition politician.
"Coming just four days before the vote to impeach the speaker,
it marks the beginning of a campaign to reduce opposition votes by
arresting and jailing lawmakers."
Yameen won a 2013 presidential election and has since been accused
of reversing much of the country's democratic gains and corruption.
Faris is the son of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was the Maldives president
for 30 years. The brothers, Gayoom and Yameen, fell apart after an
acrimonious power struggle within the ruling party last year.
Gayoom called his son's arrest "a grave injustice" in a Twitter post and said: "All dictatorships are doomed to fail. That is the lesson of history."
Gayoom, who himself ruled with an iron fist, has joined forces with
Mohamed Nasheed, whom he repeatedly jailed but who went on to become
the country's first democratically elected president, in a campaign to
undermine Yameen in the run-up to elections next year.
For his part, Nasheed, in a Twitter post, said Yameen was "highlighting his desperation by going after his own nephew".
A spokesman for Yameen declined to comment immediately.
Atul Keshap, the US ambassador to the Maldives, said Faris' arrest "impedes the normal function of parliament and democracy in Maldives". The UK and EU have expressed concern too.
Two other opposition politicians are also on trial on charges of
bribery and terrorism. A previous attempt to impeach Maseeh, the
speaker, in March ended in chaos when Yameen ordered troops to eject
several politicians from parliament.
Yameen's administration has arrested most of the opponents who
might challenge him in 2018. It also denies opposition allegations that
it is trying to cover up corruption, including money laundering.
Nasheed, who currently lives in exile; a vice president; a defence
minister; and another political party leader have been given lengthy
prison sentences after trials on terrorism charges that were criticised
for lack of due process
When News Breaks Out, We Break In. (The 2014 Bloggies Finalist)
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