Colombo, September 30
A Maldivian court has granted bail to jailed former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the country’s longest-serving leader, a week after his estranged half-brother was defeated at a presidential election.
Gayoom, 80, and his legislator son Faris Maumoon, were released after they mounted fresh appeals against their controversial convictions. The release followed appeals from President-elect Ibrahim Mohd Solih, who urged incumbent Abdulla Yameen to free all political prisoners in the tourist paradise atoll nation after his stunning victory at the September 23 election. Gayoom had ruled the nation of 340,000 Sunni Muslims for 30 straight years till he was defeated at the country’s first multi-party elections in 2008.
He helped his half-brother Yameen win a controversial run-off election in 2013, but they later fell out. Gayoom was arrested in February along with the country’s Chief Justice and another SC justice on a charge of attempting to topple Yameen. — AFP
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