Self exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed Saturday admitted that the claims he required emergency spine surgery was a ruse to release him from prison.
Nasheed serving 13 years in prison for the arbitrary arrest and subsequent detention of a sitting judge while he was president was allowed to leave to Britain for medical treatment in an internationally brokered deal in January after the ex-president's doctors claimed that he developed spinal cord problems that required specialist surgery not available in the archipelago.
Government agreed to let Nasheed leave on the condition that he returned to the Maldives after 30 to serve the remainder of his sentence.
However, the opposition leader has now been granted political asylum in the UK.
Speaking to 'Minivan 97' radio on Saturday, Nasheed admitted that his spinal ailment was a ruse to get him out of prison.
"I was never sick. The government found it difficult to keep me incarcerated. The government was facing mounting public and international pressure," Nasheed explained.
"So they [government] came up with an excuse that would allow me to leave but also show that they had not lost. The government had no choice."
