Both former leaders of the Maldives, Nasheed and Gayoom, have called on India to force Yameen to release the recently jailed high court judges and political prisoners. While intervention from New Delhi would certainly be unusual, it is not unprecedented. India sent troops to the Maldives in 1988 to foil a coup.
Alongside India, the U.S. and the U.K. have both urged Yameen to honor the rule of law and free the detainees.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement: “President Yameen has systematically alienated his coalition, jailed or exiled every major opposition political figure, deprived elected members of parliament of their right to represent their voters in the legislature, revised laws to erode human rights… and weakened the institutions of government.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations (UN) human rights chief warned Wednesday that Yameen’s state of emergency decree, which had been used to imprison perceived political opponents, was undermining the checks and balances necessary in any functioning democracy.
“The suspension of several functions of the judiciary and parliament, and the restrictions on a series of constitutional rights, create a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of the president,” Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.
