State of emergency lifted after dictatorship became \'new normal\': ex-President Nasheed

Former President Mohamed Nasheed has denounced the Maldivian government’s decision on Thursday after to lift Maldives’ contentious state of emergency, as political scheming.

The opposition Maldivian Democratic Party leader said, through a post on his Twitter account, that the state of emergency was lifted because President Abdulla Yameen no longer has any need for it.

Azima Shakoor, legal affairs minister at the President’s Office, and Attorney General Mohamed Anil announced that the state of emergency has been lifted, effective from 12:00 PM on Thursday.

They revealed that the decision to lift the long-standing state of emergency comes after security forces assured the president that they could maintain ‘stability’ in the nation without its authority.

While the state of emergency’s initial declaration and extension have both been challenged over its legal validity, President Abdulla Yameen has used it to arrest and detain his political rivals as well as activists calling for his resignation.