News

Jailed ex-VP taken back to prison

Jailed former vice president Ahmed Adheeb Abdul Ghafoor was taken back to prison on Saturday immediately after he was discharged from hospital.

Adheeb was admitted in hospital on January 6 days after he was taken back to prison when his medical leave expired.

Adheeb's spouse Mariyam Nashwa had said his condition had worsened after he was taken back to prison and blamed the authorities for ignoring the doctor's recommendations.

Adheeb had undergone emergency surgery last November before he spent a month under house arrest due to ailing health.

The ex-VP had been treated in the capital multiple times in the last few months amid increasing calls on the government to allow him to go abroad for medical treatment.

The ex-VP's is serving 33 years in prison over two counts of terrorism and corruption including the blast aboard the presidential speedboat which has been now confirmed as a plot to assassinate president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

He is also facing multiple counts of terrorism and graft charges including a second assassination plot involving a Sri Lankan sniper.

His family had claimed that he has been diagnosed with an internal cyst, kidney stones and a dangerous eye disease “glaucoma”.

The new government had come under intense public criticism after Adheeb was allowed to form a new political party during the month he was under house arrest.

His party, Maldives Third-Way Democrats (MTD) has slammed the government for disregarding Adheeb's health and taking him back to prison.