Reform efforts started by four leaders is gaining momentum: Joint Opposition

The reform efforts of its four leaders is seeing fruition and will gain more momentum, the Joint Opposition has said.

The Joint Opposition released a statement statement on Thursday to mark 150 days since former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's incarceration, which said to think Maumoon would concede to tyranny is ‘untrue and ill-informed’.

The parties reiterated their call to have the ‘baseless’ charges against Maumoon dropped and for the ‘arbitrarily’ detained opposition leader to be released.

Further, in this regard the parties defended Maumoon, who is accused of funneling money through public officials in a ‘conspirary to overthrow the government’ since 2013.

The Joint Opposition said that Maumoon had been ‘tirelessly’ campaigning for incumbent President Abdulla Yameen in 2013 and is innocent of the crimes he is accused of.

Maumoon was arrested alongside Surpeme Court justices Abdulla Saeed and Ali Hameed on February 5th, after President Yameen declared a state of emergency in the Maldives.

The trio and several others have been implicated in the alleged coup. Maumoon and the Supreme Court justices are facing multiple other charges as well.

Their arrests have been described as further detereoration of democratic principles and part of Maldives backtracking on its developments.

The Joint Opposition, a union of four prominent parties that signed a coalition agreement last year, added to their reiteration that keeping the former strongman in incarceration is unfair.