A criminal court in the Maldives has issued an arrest order for former president Mohamed Nasheed and his former defence minister, party officials told AFP today.
“The court has given the order to arrest Nasheed and the (former) defence minister,” Adam Gafoor, a senior figure in Nasheed''s Maldivian Democratic Party, told AFP.
A second party source confirmed the news, but new Maldives police chief Abdulla Riyas said he had no knowledge of the order. “I am not aware of it,” he said.
The wife and daughters of former Maldives'' president Mohamed Nasheed have fled to Colombo as violence worsens, a presidential spokesman in Sri Lanka and a family member said today.
“His wife and two children arrived and spoke to the president over the phone last evening,” a spokesman for Sri Lanka''s President Mahinda Rajapakse, Bandula Jayasekera, told AFP.
“President Rajapakse was concerned over the safety of Mr Nasheed and his family.”
A family member in Male, who asked not to be named, confirmed the news, saying: “They are in Sri Lanka... It''s much safer than here.”
