Maldives court frees jailed ex-president Abdulla Yameen
- Judges ruled that Yameen’s 2022 trial on corruption and money-laundering charges during tenure of a pro-Indian government was unfair, ordered a retrial
- Decision came ahead of elections on Sunday, in which the pro-China Yameen is fielding candidates from a political party he formed while in prison
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Jailed former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen was freed on Thursday after the High Court overturned his conviction and 11-year prison sentence, days before keenly contested parliamentary elections.
A three-judge bench in the small but strategically located Indian Ocean archipelago nation held that Yameen’s 2022 trial on corruption and money-laundering charges during the tenure of a pro-Indian government was unfair and ordered a retrial.
“The lower court ruling was not fair,” judge Hassan Shafeeu said while reading out a lengthy decision that was broadcast live.
The decision came ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday, in which the pro-China Yameen is fielding candidates from a political party he formed while serving his sentence.
Yameen was convicted on two charges after a court found he accepted a bribe to grant a lease on a small islet for tourism development while he was in power between 2013 and 2018.
Thursday’s ruling set that verdict aside. Yameen’s co-accused Yusuf Naeem, a businessman who was said to have paid the alleged bribe of US$1 million, was also freed.
Yameen, 64, was held at the high-security Maafushi prison but was transferred to house arrest the day after his ally, Mohamed Muizzu, won presidential elections last September.
While in office Yameen had borrowed heavily and built thousands of flats and other infrastructure in the nation of 1,192 coral islands scattered some 800km (500 miles) across the equator.
Jailing of Maldives’ China-leaning former leader could fan anti-India tensions
Political observers believe that no party in the country can win an outright majority in Sunday’s elections and Muizzu may be forced to work with a coalition.
He awarded a string of infrastructure contracts to Chinese state-owned companies last Sunday.
That included a US$225 million deal for the Dongfang Electric Corporation to build three fish-processing plants and an airport upgrade by another firm.
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An aide to Muizzu told Agence France-Presse he was keen to ensure a parliamentary majority to press ahead with his ambitious infrastructure projects without being stalled by a hostile legislature.
However, he may have to work with smaller parties in the event of a hung parliament.
Yameen himself is not contesting Sunday’s vote but is fielding a considerable number of candidates who could end up joining a coalition with Muizzu’s party, sources close to both sides said.
Yameen was unable to contest last year’s presidential election because of the criminal conviction but he supported Muizzu, who came to power promising to free Yameen.
Muizzu had also pledged to get rid of some 89 Indian troops deployed in the Maldives to operate three aircraft gifted by New Delhi.
The soldiers are expected to complete their withdrawal by May 15.
