'May Day' protest unrest instigated by President Yameen to jail AP leader Imran: ex-VP Ahmed Adeeb
Ex-VP Adeeb alleged that President Yameen targeted Sheikh Imran Abdulla for defending ex-minister Nazim
Sheikh Imran Abdulla, leader of the opposition Adhaalath Party
Jailed former Vice President Ahmed Adeeb has alleged that the unrest and violence during the 'May Day' protests in 2015, which resulted in heavy jail terms for some protestors, was a government ploy to jail an opposition leader.
In a statement Adeeb released on Wednesday, he alleged that President Yameen had planned the allegations made against Adhaalath Party leader Imran Abdulla and his subsequent incarceration.
The statement goes on to say that Imran became a 'target' to President Yameen after he began defending former Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim against allegations of weapons possessions, for which he is also serving a jail sentence.
The two-page long statement has Adeeb claiming that he had attempted to dissuade President Yameen from taking drastic measures, especially through the law, against the opposition.
"I advised him repeatedly, told him that we possess a majority in parliament so as to provide progress and economic reform, not to coarsely prosecute the opposition" the statement reads.
Adeeb goes as far as to say that he can personally guarantee that the unrest, which led to injured police officers and vandalized property, was planned and supported by the president himself.
The former vice president said that the trial and imprisonment process was deceitful and unlawful, insisting that the opposition leader is completely innocent of the charges brought up against him.
The statement also had Adeeb claiming that ministers of the president's cabinet had been 'afraid' for their lives and that the government tactic of 'jailing members of the opposition and removing them from employment in government' shows how unfit Yameen is for leadership.
At the end of the statement, Adeeb calls on authorities to reopen the case and hold a fair trial against Imran, in light of evidence that he could potentially provide. Adeeb had also attested to Imran's character as an 'honorable man with unquestionable integrity and compassion'.
