Ex-vice president sentenced to three months over escape attempt

The verdict was delivered two days after Adeeb pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges raised over the failed escape attempt. The charge carries a prison sentence of four months and 24 hours but Adeeb was handed a lighter sentence as the law allows leniency for defendants who plead guilty.

Appearing at court on Tuesday, Adeeb told the judge that he has confessed and apologised in a statement made during the police investigation. He also appealed for the judge to consider his health in passing a verdict.

The 37-year-old fled the Maldives in late July in defiance of a travel ban imposed by the Supreme Court. The Indian authorities held him when he arrived at the Tuticorin port as a stowaway on a tugboat and handed him over to the Maldives police at the maritime border.