The Government of the Maldives on Saturday faced international condemnation, a day after former President Mohamed Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in prison under Anti-Terrorism laws. In a court hearing late on Friday night, Nasheed, who was arrested on February 22 over the detention of a judge in 2012, was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1990.
The former President, the first democratically-elected leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago, has a constitutional right of appeal to the High Court of the Maldives. “The United States is concerned with the apparent lack of appropriate criminal procedures during the trial in Maldives against former President Mohamed Nasheed, who was found guilty on Saturday and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
“We are particularly troubled by reports that the trial was conducted in a manner contrary to Maldivian law and Maldives’ international obligations to provide the minimum fair trial guarantees and other protections under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.