The ongoing political crisis in the Maldives worsened early Tuesday after the police arrested two Supreme Court judges including the chief justice, hours after embattled president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom had declared a state of emergency.
Police confirmed that chief justice Abdulla Saeed and Supreme Court Judge Ali Hameed had been taken into custody over an ongoing investigation.
The island nation has plunged into fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the immediate release of jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed.
More than four days after the Supreme court ordered the immediate release of as many as nine political prisoners, government has thus far refused to comply.
The state of emergency was declared after president Yameen's last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed after the apex court rejected the government's 'legal and judicial' concerns over the order.
President Yameen has declared emergency state for 15 days and suspended as many as 20 constitutional rights for the duration along with the criminal procedure Act and several articles of the judicature Act.
The constitutional rights suspended president Yameen has effectively quashed any moves by the opposition to impeach him while also stripping the Supreme Court of any authority.
The judicature Act articles suspended by the president further constricts the powers of the top court and suspends the immunities of judges.
The arrests of the top court judges come after soldiers had stormed the Supreme Court building following the declaration of the state of emergency. According to unconfirmed reports, the military had handed the two top judges who were inside the court over to the police.
Shortly after, chief justice had managed to get a message through to former attorney general Husnu Suood pleading the people to protect the Supreme Court and its bench.
In the few hours since emergency state was declared police have made a series of high profile arrests including deposed ruling party leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and the chief judicial administrator.
In addition to Nasheed, the other top political leaders named in the order included Jumhoory Party (JP) leader Gasim Ibrahim, religiously conservative Adhaalath Party (AP) leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla, former defence minister Mohamed Nazim, former vice president Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor and Gayoom's lawmaker son Faris Maumoon.
The others named in the order included former prosecutor general Muhthaz Muhsin, magistrate Ahmed Nihan and Adheeb's brother in law Hamid Ismail.
The court had also annulled its anti-defection ruling and ordered the country's electoral watchdog to re-instate the dozen government lawmakers disqualified over the ruling. The Supreme Court said the anti-defection ruling was issued as a temporary solution to the constitutional dispute case filed by the state but insisted that the relevant authorities have failed to bring to effect an anti-defection law specified in the ruling.
