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EU to convene Monday over Maldives political turmoil

Fathmath Shaahunaz
25 February 2018, MVT 15:54
A meeting of the EU council.
Fathmath Shaahunaz
25 February 2018, MVT 15:54

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union (EU) is to convene Monday regarding the ongoing political turmoil in the Maldives.

The council’s agenda for Monday’s sit-down includes making decisions on the Maldives, Myanmar and Cambodia. The council is to decide on a course of action without prior debate.

No other details of the impending meeting have been disclosed.

The EU had passed a resolution last year October, stating that the current government was arresting opposition political leaders and driving them to reside overseas. The resolution called on the Maldivian government to free political leaders, ensure independent investigations, refrain from influencing the judiciary, and allow each political party to freely nominate its desired candidate for the Presidential Elections 2018. The union had further urged sanctions against the nation’s leaders, and to review Europe’s trade relations and aids to the Maldives.

The EU council is convening again in the wake of a shock ruling by the Maldives’ Supreme Court on February 1 to release political prisoners and reinstate unseated legislators. The government had refused to comply with the order and declared a state of emergency, during which the top court’s Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and Judge Ali Hameed were arrested, following which the remaining three justices had revoked the court’s order to free the nine prisoners.

While the government has claimed that the Supreme Court’s unprecedented order was part of an attempted coup, several countries and international bodies continue to call on the Maldives to lift the state of emergency and execute the court’s initial verdict.

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