The Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives is engulfed in a political crisis, after the President defied a Supreme Court ruling to reinstall opposition MPs and release political prisoners.
President Abdulla Yameen instead declared a state of emergency and ordered the arrest the chief justice a former President.In a TV address, Yameen insisted that it was business as usual and urged Maldivians to remain calm. He claimed the Supreme Court had acted "hastily" and argued that his actions were designed to prevent a coup.
On Tuesday, President Yameen said in a statement, the Supreme Court had decided to reverse the ruling that precipitated the crisis and nine political prisoners would not be released.
Background
Yameen came to power in 2013 in a disputed election that opponents say was rigged. Since then, he has been accused of eroding democracy, cracking down on dissent and jailing opposition leaders.
In 2016,Maldives withdrew from the UK Commonwealth after the association of former British colonies threatened to suspend it for chipping away at democratic institutions.
To the alarm of some opposition figures, Yameen courted investment from China and Saudi Arabia -- his last visit to Beijing was in December.Mohamed Nasheed, who became the country's first democratically elected President in 2009 and achieved worldwide renown for highlighting the effect of global warming on the archipelago, was imprisoned in 2015 on terrorism charges that his supporters say were spurious.
Nasheed was allowed to leave prison a year later to seek medical treatment abroad, and was granted asylum in Britain. He hoped to challenge Yameen in presidential elections later this year, and was in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, when the Supreme Court delivered the ruling that touched off the latest crisis
What's happening now?
The simmering political crisis came to a head last week when the Supreme Court, in an unexpected ruling, ordered the release of nine dissidents and the reinstatement of 12 legislators who were fired for abandoning Yameen's party. The ruling would have given the opposition a majority in the country's legislative assembly.
Yameen refused to comply, and instead dispatched the military to the Supreme Court in the capital, Male.
Security forces "blockaded and locked the Supreme Court building from outside and hence the justices are without any food," Maldives''.
Police also detained Yameen's estranged half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the country for 30 years until the transition to democracy. The pair fell out in 2016, journalist Mohamed Junayd said, and last year he joined forces with Nasheed to form a new opposition coalition.
Gayoom was arrested along with his son-in-law, Mohamed Nadheem, early on Tuesday morning in what the Maldivian opposition have called "blatantly trumped up charges of bribery."
Yameen also imposed a state of emergency, giving him sweeping powers which he used to order the detention of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another judge, Ali Hameed. The remaining three justices overturned the earlier ruling, a statement on the court's website read.
In a televised address to the nation, Yameen claimed he had acted to prevent a coup.
The President's office insisted that while the state of emergency imposed certain restrictions, no curfew would be put in place. "During this time, though certain rights will be restricted, general movements, services and businesses will not be affected.