Army arrests judge who freed politician

The Maldives’ military has arrested it chief justice after he released an opposition leader detained without a warrant for defaming the government.

Monday’s arrest of Judge Abdulla Mohamed has prompted courts in Maldives to boycott sessions yesterday, in what could become a showdown between the first freely elected government and the independent judiciary introduced by former pro-democracy political prisoner, president Mohamed Nasheed after coming to power in 2008.

The arrest of a judge by the military is unprecedented in the Maldives, which only became a multiparty democracy after 30 years of autocratic rule.

A government statement quoted foreign minister Ahmed Naseem as saying that Judge Nasheed was arrested “for corruption [and] allowing his judicial decisions to be determined by personal interests”.