Maldives crisis deepens as state warns against ousting president
The Supreme Court’s reinstatement of dozen of MPs ousted by President Abdulla Yameen gives the opposition an opportunity to impeach him
Male — The beleaguered Maldives government on Sunday ordered police and troops to "resist" any move by the Supreme Court to have President Abdulla Yameen arrested over his refusal to release political prisoners. The political crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation has deepened with its top court pitted against the president. Police detained two opposition legislators as they returned to the country on Sunday. The main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said its MPs tried to stage a meeting in defiance of a weekend order suspending parliament, but they were pushed back by armed troops. Security forces have been deployed inside parliament — known as the People’s Majlis — since March last year when Yameen ordered them to evict opposition MPs. The president’s crackdown on dissent has tarnished the Maldives’ image as an upmarket holiday paradise for international travellers including South Africans and sparked calls from the UN and several countries to restore the rule of...
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