Lawyers for Nasheed quit over ‘biased’ trial

AFPColomboLawyers for former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed have quit in protest against what they call a biased trial aimed at destroy his political career, the party said yesterday. The four-member legal team has withdrawn from the trial which began three days after his February 22 arrest on charges of terrorism, Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party said in a statement released in Colombo. “President Nasheed’s legal team withdrew their counsel... stating that inherent biases in Nasheed’s trial mean it is impossible to mount a proper defence,” the statement said. The statement added that Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected leader, was being denied medical attention. He was arrested over the detention of criminal court judge Abdullah Mohamed in 2012, when Nasheed was still president. The US and India have voiced concern over the charges, which carry a jail sentence of more than 10 years. The controversial trial comes amid growing opposition to the government of President Abdulla Yameen who has denied that the move to prosecute Nasheed was politically motivated. Hundreds of supporters have been protesting in the capital island Male on a regular basis since Nasheed’s arrest. Nasheed resigned as the Maldives’ leader in February 2012 after a mutiny by police and troops that followed weeks of protests over the arrest of judge Mohamed on corruption allegations.