Dunya Maumoon calls on state release father, ex-President Gayoom

Dunya Maumoon, a government official and a vocal critic of the opposition, has called on the state to release her father, opposition leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

While she said this in a post on her Twitter account on Monday morning, this is the first time that the state minister has made a comment to this effect.

However, Dunya has been publicly supportive of her father. As such, she has shared posts made by others, particularly her sister Yumna, on their father’s condition in incarceration.

Following former president Maumoon’s arrest on February 6th, on allegations of conspiring to overthrow the government and of bribery, Dunya said she had visited him in prison.

Despite this, Dunya has spoken to local and international news outlets expressing support of the government decision to impose a state of emergency, which allowed the arrest to be made.

Further, she blamed former president Mohamed Nasheed, her father’s opposition partner, for his arrest and decribed the state of emergency as a necessity.

“He is my father, he is in a mess that Nasheed has created,” she told The Indian Express.

Former president Maumoon is Maldives’ strongman and had ruled the country unchallenged for thirty years before he was removed through ballots in 2008.

Maumoon had aided incumbent president Abdulla Yameen and had been a strong supporter of his during campaigns and his first years in office.

The Progressive Party of Maldives, of which Maumoon is the elected leader, split in 2016 due to political disagreements, some of which have to do with Maumoon’s son Faris Maumoon being dismissed from the party for violating a whip in parliament.

While Maumoon signed a coalition agreement with three other parties in the opposition, his son Faris, who is also in state custody, has been vocal against the government.