US urges Maldives to free jailed ex-leader

COLOMBO: The United States pressed the Maldives on Wednesday to release former leader Mohamed Nasheed after he was returned to prison despite an order commuting his 13-year term to house arrest.
US assistant secretary for South Asia Nisha Biswal said Washington was concerned about a move away from democracy in the Indian Ocean archipelago, a popular tourist destination.
Her comments echoed a call by the United Nations on Tuesday for Nasheed’s early release.
“It is a concern to us that rather than strengthening democratic institutions and processes, the government of Maldives seems to be moving away,” Biswal said while on a visit to neighbouring Sri Lanka.
“We have called upon the government of the Maldives to respect due process.”
Police and prison officials clashed with supporters of Nasheed as they removed him from his home in the capital Male and took him to the high-security prison island of Maafushi on Sunday night.
Nasheed’s lawyers said the authorities were now disputing a letter hand-carried by a member of the Maldivian Correctional Service to Nasheed commuting his jail term to house arrest from July 19.
Despite wide publicity both locally and abroad a month ago around the commuting of his sentence, the authorities have sought to dispute it only in the past week, Nasheed’s MDP said.