Deposed ruling party leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's lawmaker son Faris Maumoon on Tuesday was released from remand, his lawyer has confirmed.
The Criminal Court had ordered the release of the Dhiggaru MP over the Supreme Court's order on Thursday night to release nine political opponents that had included the lawmaker moments before his uncle and incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom declared a state of emergency.
His lawyer, former deputy prosecutor Hussain Shameem confirmed via Twitter that his client had been released from the custodial jail in Dhoonidhoo island and were on their way to the capital Male.
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 Dhiggaru MP has been at the forefront of the ongoing government crackdown on the opposition after he spearheaded a move to unseat the parliament speaker last year. Former president Gayoom's eldest son had spent six months in pre-trial detention after he was charged with bribing fellow lawmakers to back the opposition led censure motion against the speaker.
Less than two days after he was released, police again took him into custody accusing him of plotting to overthrow the government.
Faris' release comes hours after his father along with his brother in law were taken into custody over the same accusations.
In the few hours since emergency state was declared police have made a series of high profile arrests including the elder Gayoom, two top court judges 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.
