After notorious pro-government MP Ahmed Nihan was seized and detained at an Indian airport on Monday, the incident and his reaction garnered attention from several opposition aligned lawmakers.

Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party MP Imthiyaz Fahmy said Nihan has publicly supported the government’s crackdown on himself and his peers and questioned his capacity for empathy, now that he has been in a similar position.  

In a tweet, MP Fahmy said ‘Nihan you are now expressing discontent with India not informing you of a travel ban after you were deported from there while Maldivians have been forced to return home from the airport in the Maldives because they were not informed, as they should have been according to law, does it concern you now?’.

MP Rozaina Adam, also aligned with the party and representing the Addu-Meedho constituency, took to Twitter to ask if Nihan has ‘spat’ on an immigration official’s face. Expressing support for the India’s decision, Rozaina is referring to an earlier incident where MP Nihan had sipped a glass of water during a debate with her on the parliament floor and proceeded to hurl the contents of the glass from his mouth at her direction.

MP Nihan said that the Indian government had ‘bullied’ him for his political ideologies. In response to this MP Ahmed Mahloof, a vocal critic of the government who is often described as a victim of President Abdulla Yameen’s wave of repression of the opposition, said Nihan is confused and that he and the government are the ‘actual bullies’.