Detained former president Yameen Abdul Gayyoom has been taken to state run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in capital Male' for treatment.
Parliamentary Group Leader of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik said Yameen was taken to the hospital for a "routine check-up". Some members of the progressive coalition between PPM and Peoples' National Congress (PNC) claim the authorities brought Yameen to the hospital "to show Yameen is pulling stunts like other arrested politicians" citing deteriorating health.
However, president Yameen is not weak enough to pull such stunts, said Nihan. When Yameen was being taken to jail, authorities did not inform him where he was being taken, and can be considered an act of kidnapping.
Senior members of PPM and NC had gathered at IGMH when he was taken to the hospital. The police had to resort to the use of pepper spry to break up the crowd of supporters gathered at the hospital.
Criminal Court on Monday ordered authorities to keep former president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom in custody until the end of his money laundering trial.
Yameen appeared in criminal court in the capital Male, on Monday afternoon after the country’s top prosecutor charged him last week with money laundering.
The prosecution asked the court to take Yameen into custody to deny him the chance to influence the evidence against him. The criminal court ordered to keep him detained, after which he was taken to Maafushi remand jail. The arrest has since been appealed at the High Court by President Yameen.
Photo: Ahmed Nihan Hussain Manik
