Maldives charged nine people, including the jailed chief justice and former president, for terrorism on Tuesday, AP reported. The country is likely to lift the state of emergency on Thursday, 45 days after it was imposed.
Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Justice Ali Hameed of the Supreme Court, four MPs, and a former police chief were among those charged with terrorism. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for 10 to 15 years.
The nine people “conspired to instigate a coup with a Supreme Court order [on February 1] for the release of [political] prisoners”, the prosecutor’s office said, according to Maldives Independent.
President Abdulla Yameen had defied the court’s order for four days, before imposing a 15-day state of emergency. He later extended it for another month. Hours after the emergency was imposed, Gayoom and the two judges were arrested at midnight. Gayoom was the president of Maldives from 1978 to 2008.
On Monday, Maldives’ ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mohamed Hussain Shareef, said the island nation would not extend the state of emergency beyond Thursday and would charge Gayoom and the two judges with bribery. Gayoom is accused of bribing the judges and a Supreme Court official to overthrow the government. They were also charged with obstruction of justice on Tuesday.
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