Attorney: Maldives breached terms with jailed ex-president

India on Tuesday welcomed the decision by the Maldives government to give permission to former president Mohamed Nasheed to travel to Britain for medical treatment. The government had, on Saturday, granted Nasheed permission to travel overseas to undergo surgery in the UK.

Jailed Maldivian opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed’s travel overseas for surgery was scuttled at the last minute Sunday as the authorities demanded a “hostage” in his place, his party said.

Last year he was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges relating to the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge in 2012, when he was still in power.

“If Nasheed does anything that breach[es] the terms of the government, the family member could then be criminally prosecuted”.

“This kind of blackmail is illegal, unheard of in worldwide affairs, and totally outrageous”.

He landed in Sri Lanka on Monday along with his legal team and some family members and will leave for Britain on Wednesday, Hamid Abdul Ghaffor, Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman, told Reuters.

Lawyers added that they were still trying to negotiate with the government to resolve the issue and expressed hope that the ex-president would be sent to the United Kingdom for the surgery.

Home Minister Umar Naseer said Nasheed’s brother has agreed to be his guarantor but will not be held responsible for the former president’s return and will not be restricted to the capital.

Soon after leaving office, he was charged with abduction for ordering the arrest of a judge while in office.

The 48-year-old Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Indian Ocean nation in 2008, only to be ousted four years in later in what he called a military and police coup.

The United Nations, the United States and human rights groups have said Yameen’s government failed to follow due process and that the case was politically motivated.