Maldives issues arrest warrant for ex-Prez Nasheed

Male, August 31 

A Maldivian criminal court has issued arrest warrants for Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president who was toppled in 2012, and other exiled leaders of the Maldives United Opposition.

Nasheed, 49, was granted political asylum in the UK last May after he was authorised to travel for medical treatment while serving the sentence for a terror-related offence. "The warrant for Nasheed's arrest was sought over an investigation into the alleged misuse of state funds during his presidency," the police said in a statement yesterday.

"The Maldives correctional service is seeking to have him brought back to serve the remainder of his 13-year sentence on a terror conviction," The Maldives Independent reported, citing the statement. Nasheed was sentenced to jail in March 2015 after he was convicted on a terror-related charge, inviting widespread international condemnation.

The police were also authorised to arrest and bring back Mohamed Jameel Ahmed and Akram Kamaldeen, a senior official of the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party, for refusing to obey a police summons on August 4, which ordered the pair to return to the Maldives within two weeks for questioning over unspecified charges, the paper said.

Jameel, who fled the Maldives in July last year, has also been granted political refugee status by the UK government. He has since been living in self-imposed exile in the UK. — PTI