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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Maldives Opposition Petitions Supreme Court To Oust President Abdulla Yameen

Opposition leaders in the Maldives have petitioned the island nation's Supreme Court to temporarily remove President Abdulla Yameen and investigate allegations of corruption against him.

The leaders of four opposition parties said Yameen must be suspended for misrule, rights abuses, and "unprecedented corruption, including unjust enrichment from appropriation of state properties and funds for personal benefit, for the benefit of his family and political associates"

Signatories to the petition filed on Sunday Jan 28,2018 include two former presidents, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and Mohamed Nasheed. The former is Yameen's half-brother.

The Maldives has been mired in political unrest since Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, was jailed in 2015 on "terrorism" charges.

The trial, which a UN rights panel declared unfair, prompted widespread protests and resulted in the arrest of hundreds of dissidents.

Since then, almost all key opposition leaders have either been jailed or gone into exile. In 2016, Nasheed also sought political asylum in the United Kingdom after traveling there on medical leave from prison.

Meanwhile, nine ruling-party legislators who defected to the opposition were stripped of their seats last year.

The crackdown on dissent has raised fears of instability ahead of this year's presidential election.

Yameen's main challengers are "in prison or exile, while the election commission commands very little public confidence", said Shiuna, the anti-graft campaigner.

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