State of emergency will end once ‘judicial deadlock’ is resolved: Ambassador

The state of emergency will end as scheduled on February 20 once the “judicial deadlock” is resolved, says Maldivian Ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed.

Ambassador Mohamed told The Wire that the government is working to resolve the situation within the 15 days of declaring the state of emergency.

“The state of emergency will come to an end, when the judicial deadlock is resolved. Government is hoping that within the 15 days – still five days remaining – the government will be able to get out of the messy situation.”

Before the interview with The Wire, Indian Ambassador to Maldives Akhilesh Mishra met with the Maldivian foreign secretary Ahmed Sareer in Male’ and repeated India's wish for a “return to normalcy” in the island nation.

President Abdulla Yameen declared the state of emergency on February 5. According to Article 257 of the Maldives Constitution if the parliament is not in session when emergency is declared by president, it has to be recalled within 14 days and a proclamation submitted for approval.

The state of emergency was declared following the Supreme Court ruling on February 1 to release nine political prisoners and reinstate 12 opposition MPs. President Yameen has claimed that the ruling was an attempt at a coup after jailing the court’s chief justice Abdulla Saeed, justice Ali Hameed, President Abdulla Yameen, and some others. The remaining Supreme Court justices have since revoked the ruling.

When The Wire pointed out that the Supreme Court’s reversal of its order had technically resolved the ‘judicial deadlock,’ the Maldivian ambassador said that the investigation into the charges of bribery against the jailed justices are still ongoing, and that there are others who are under the suspicion of having accepted bribes as well.