Former Maldives president is sentenced to 19 months in prison following coup investigation
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the Maldives from 1978 to 2008, was arrested in February on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of his half-brother
A Maldives court on Wednesday sentenced a former strongman politician accused of plotting to overthrow the government to 19 months in prison for failing to cooperate with a police investigation.
Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ran the Indian Ocean archipelago state from 1978 to 2008, is the second former president to be jailed under President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s rule. He was arrested in February on charges of attempting to overthrow the government of Yameen, his half-brother.
A court sentenced him to one year, seven months and six days in prison for failing to hand over his mobile phone to investigators. Two Supreme Court judges, Abdulla Saeed and Ali Hameed, who were arrested with Gayoom, were also given the same sentences for the same offence on Wednesday. They had previously been given similar jail sentences for allegedly influencing lower court decisions.
Maldives chief justice sentenced to nearly five months in prison
Maldives, known for its expensive tourist resorts, became a multiparty democracy in 2008, ending Gayoom’s 30-year strongman rule. However, Yameen, who was elected in 2013, has rolled back much of the democratic gains.
Mohamed Nasheed, who was the country’s first freely elected president in 2008, was earlier given a 13-year sentence in a trial widely criticised for due-process violations. However, he was granted asylum in Britain when he went there on leave from prison for medical treatment.
Yameen’s former vice-president, Ahmed Adeeb, two former defence ministers, a prosecutor general and opposition lawmakers are among those who have been jailed during Yameen’s tenure. All of the trials have been criticised for alleged lack of fairness.