Nasheed freed from detention

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed was freed from detention after he was presented in court today.

The Magistrate ordered Nasheed to appear again in court in 25 days to face charges raised against him.

Meanwhile the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said it believes there is no chance of a fair trial in the Maldives for former President Nasheed.

President Nasheed?s legal team has already complained about the extraordinary way the trial is being conducted.

“The coup has not been fully completed. There is no point bringing President Nasheed down in a police mutiny if he then goes on to win presidential elections 18 months later. To ensure its survival, Mr. Waheed’s regime needs to remove President Nasheed from the political equation and that is precisely what they intend to do,”?MDP spokesperson Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said.

President Nasheed was arrested last morning by a heavily armed police SWAT team on the island of Fares-Maathoda, in the southern atoll of Gaaf Dhaal.

Nasheed was arrested after he failed to appear in court earlier over a case filed by the family of Chief Criminal Judge Abdulla Mohamed who was arrested and detained when Nasheed was President.