Former Maldives president sent back to jail News
Former Maldives president sent back to jail

[JURIST] Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed was sent back to jail on Sunday, one month after his 13-year prison sentence was commuted to house arrest. Nasheed was originally transferred to house arrest after he developed health issues. The order allowing house arrest expired on Friday, but the government had agreed to allow Nasheed to finish his sentence in house arrest and provided no explanation for the move back to jail [New Indian Express report]. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) [official website, in Dhivehi ] condemned the move [press release] saying the Maldivian constitution provides no provision for reversing a commuted sentence, .

The Maldives judiciary has generated significant controversy over the last two years. In March the Criminal Court of Maldives [official website] sentenced Nasheed to 13 years in prison for terrorism-related charges. The charges relate to actions [JURIST report] taken three years ago by the former president, which included the arrest and detainment of a top judge. In May, a senior official at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) [official website] said [press release] that the trial and conviction of former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed was “vastly unfair, arbitrary, and disproportionate” [JURIST report] and urged action to resolve the deepening political crisis. In October the OHCHR expressed concern [JURIST report] over the Supreme Court’s prosecution of five members of the Maldives Human Rights Commission [official website]. Last March the Supreme Court dismissed [JURIST report] the country’s four top election commissioners, giving each a six-month jail sentence and three-year suspension for “disobeying orders.” In November 2013 the Supreme Court suspended [JURIST report] the nation’s presidential election for the third time.

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