State of emergency declared in Maldives

MALE, Maldives- Agence France-Presse

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency in the honeymoon islands on Feb. 5, before heavily armed troops stormed the country’s top court and a former president as well as the top judge were arrested in a deepening political crisis.

The tiny tourist archipelago has been plunged into chaos recently, with the president pitted against the Supreme Court after he refused to comply with its Feb. 1 order to release nine political dissidents.

The tense standoff comes amid a years-long government crackdown on dissent that has battered the image of the upmarket holiday paradise, with the president jailing almost all the political opposition since he came to power in 2013.

On Feb. 5, Maldives police arrested Yameen’s estranged half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had sided with the main opposition and was campaigning against him.

The Maldives’ top judge was arrested on Feb. 6 as security forces stormed the Supreme Court at dawn after Yameen declared the state of emergency in the honeymoon islands.

The detention of Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and another Supreme Court judge raised the stakes in a dramatic clash.