Maldives arrests ex-President Nasheed on terrorism charges
Maldives ex-president Mohamed Nasheed was taken into custody in the capital island of Male
Police in the Maldives have arrested former president Mohamed Nasheed under an anti-terror law for the alleged illegal detention of a judge when he was in power more than three years ago.
Nasheed, the country's first democratically-elected president, was taken into custody in the capital island of Male, police said. He came to power in 2008 and stepped down four years later following a police and military mutiny.
An arrest warrant against Nasheed, seen by AFP, described him as a flight risk. Last week the state prosecutor had dropped charges of abuse of power against Nasheed for allegedly ordering the arrest of the then-criminal court chief judge Abdullah Mohamed in January 2012.
However, Nasheed was charged again on Sunday under tougher anti-terrorism laws with the same allegation - ordering the arrest and detention of Abdullah Mohamed, who had been accused of corruption.
In February 2013, Nasheed took refuge at the Indian High Commission in Male to avoid being arrested in connection with the same case.
He lost the controversial November 2013 presidential election to the half-brother of former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
Gayoom had ruled the Indian Ocean atoll nation of 330,000 Sunni Muslims for three decades.
