US lawmakers in bid to gain Congress backing for Nasheed’s release
A bipartisan coalition of 13 top US lawmakers, in a resolution submitted to the Congress, have called on the Maldives to free former President Mohamed Nasheed, imprisoned in March on a terrorism charge.
04 Nov 2015, 9:00 AM
A bipartisan coalition of 13 top US lawmakers, in a resolution submitted to the Congress, have called on the Maldives to free former President Mohamed Nasheed, imprisoned in March on a terrorism charge.
The non-binding bill is a bid to gain Congress backing to pressure President Abdulla Yameen to “guarantee due process for all the people of the Maldives and respect their human rights.”
Senator Patrick Leahy, the main sponsor of the bill, said Yameen has increasingly cracked down on dissent within his own party and the opposition, and “presided over the erosion of judicial impartiality.”
Nasheed’s arrest in February plunged the Maldives into political turmoil. Following mass protests, the government and Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), engaged in talks, but the effort failed when Yameen refused to pardon the opposition leader.
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