Maldives ex-president will not appeal 13-year jail sentence

COLOMBO (TIP): A lawyer says Maldives’ jailed ex-president Mohamed Nasheed will not appeal his 13-year sentence because the court has not released all documents from the first hearing to prepare a case.

Hassan Latheef said on Wednesday the deadline to appeal the sentence against former President Mohamed Nasheed expires on March 20.

Nasheed was sentenced to prison earlier this month for ordering the arrest of a senior judge when he was in office three years ago. The court said that the arrest was akin to abduction under the country’s terrorism law.

The trial drew wide local and international criticism.

Nasheed became the Indian Ocean archipelago state’s first democratically elected president in 2008 but resigned in 2012 amid public anger over the arrest of the judge.

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