Arrest of Adeeb was unavoidable, says Minister
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Says India has addressed the Nasheed issue with fairness and maturity
The Maldives Foreign Minister, Dunya Maumoon, has said the decision to arrest Vice-President Ahmed Adeeb was “extremely regrettable”, but was unavoidable as it was in connection with the investigation into an explosion on the Presidential boat.
In an e-mail interview with The Hindu , Ms. Maumoon said the government had enough evidence to suggest strongly that the blast was an attempt on President Abdulla Yameen’s life.
Though she did not say who was behind the blast, she said Mr. Adeeb was taken into custody “because the relevant authorities are determined that an impartial investigation could not be carried out unless the Vice-President was detained”.
She said Mr. Adeeb refused to cooperate with the investigation authorities. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that the Vice-President had been exerting undue influence on the Maldives Police Service, through official and unofficial channels and by the use of resources outside the scope of the state budget.” Asked if the recent political crises and dismissal of a number of government officials point to some instability to the Yameen regime, she said: “Reports of instability are wholly inaccurate.”
“The events of September 28 have galvanised support around the President and unified his team to continue with the important work that we have been tasked to do for the Maldivian people,” Ms. Maumoon said. Mr. Adeeb was appointed Vice-President only three months ago when Mr. Yameen’s running-mate, Mohamed Jameel, was impeached. Earlier this month, the President sacked Defence Minister Moosa Ali Jaleel and senior police officials. The country has been in the grip of political crises ever since Mr. Yameen became President through a controversial election in 2013.
The former President Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader, was jailed in March for 13 years after being found guilty of terrorism. A U.N. panel recently ruled that Mr. Nasheed’s sentence was illegal.
However, Ms. Maumoon defended the verdict. “I think it is important to reiterate that this case is an independent judicial process which we hope the international community will respect. The former President has been prosecuted because of an order he made to the Army to abduct the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court.”
She said Mr. Nasheed’s appeal in the Supreme Court was “heard fairly, transparently and in line with fundamental legal norms”. She expressed “extreme disappointment” at the U.N. panel’s ruling. “The view of the WGAD [the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention] is an opinion and not a legally binding judgment, and the government is treating it as such, while making necessary representations.”
Asked if the Nasheed episode affected the Maldives’ ties with India, the Minister said New Delhi respected the independence and sovereignty of the island nation.
(For full interview visit: http://bit.ly/DunyaInt)
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