Maldives president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom late Tuesday labelled the U-turn by the country's Supreme Court on the order to release jailed political leaders including self-exiled former president Mohamed Nasheed as a "victory."
The island nation has been embroiled in fresh political turmoil after the Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the immediate release of as many as nine people and also prohibited the judicial watchdog from probing any case against the top court bench.
President Yameen had declared a 15 day state of emergency after his last ditch attempt to convince the top court to revoke the order failed as the apex court rejected the government's 'legal and judicial' concerns over the order.
Under the emergency state Yameen had originally suspended as many as 20 constitutional rights for the duration along with the criminal procedure Act and several articles of the judicature Act. However, earlier Tuesday he had amended the declaration to all but suspend Article 48 of the constitution which specifies the rights on arrest or detention.
The constitutional rights suspended by president Yameen effectively quashed any moves by the opposition to impeach him while also stripping the Supreme Court of any authority.
Almost immediately after the state of emergency was announced, military stormed the Supreme Court later arresting Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and top court judge Ali Hameed.
The remaining three judges of the top-court bench issued revoked the order late Tuesday which President Yameen labelled as a 'victory.'
The move comes after president Yameen had accused that the chief justice had been bribed to issue the court order in a bid to overthrow the government.
"I had to declare a national emergency because there was no other way to investigate these judges. We had to first suspend their authority and immunities. Because we had to find out how thick the plot or coup is," president Yameen said in his address to the nation on live television.
In his speech the head of state claimed that the victory did not bring any joy, saying that he was exhausted from the 'battle' against the 'rebel' judges.
President Yameen asserted his respect to the judiciary and reiterated he always advised against meddling with the justice system. However, he accused the now jailed judges of exploiting their authority and immunities.
He also lamented the loopholes in the constitution that prevents accountability of top officials of the judiciary.
President also criticized the top-court's motives and claimed their actions were not in the best interest of citizens, adding the use of proper legitimate procedure if the public is discontent with their leader or generate an outcome through voting.
President Yameen acknowledged the 'dirty' aspects of politics and assured the Maldivian citizens he will not follow the status quo in it.
He stressed the head of the state is a country's elected president and not the chief justice adding that the Constitution restricting the proper supervision on the top judicial figure is harrowing.
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 top court had not rescinded the part of the order which quashed its anti-defection ruling ordering the country's electoral watchdog to re-instate the dozen government lawmakers disqualified over the ruling.
