Authorities have transferred former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom from Maafushi Prison to the detention facility in Dhoonidhoo island at a time the strongman’s health has been reported to be ailing.
According to an official at the Maldives Correctional Service (MCS), the transfer was made under “special circumstances” granted under the Prisons and Parole Act of the Maldives. The MCS however, did not reveal the severity of Gayoom’s health condition.
The authorities had even dispatched doctors from capital city Male’ to Maafushi Prison on the 21st of August, amid reports that the jailed strongman’s health condition was ailing following which an official from Maumoon Reform Movement (MRM) had told RaajjeMV that the doctors in Maafushi prison facility had advised that 80-year-old Gayoom be taken to the capital city for a required checkup.
According to Gayoom’s family, he has been diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) and has since been advised against being kept in solitary confinement.
Gayoom’s arrest was followed by the nation-wide state of emergency declared by the incumbent President and his half-brother Abdulla Yameen on the 05th of February. He is being charged with terrorism for allegedly offering bribes to justices of the Supreme Court as well as offering bribes to MPs Ilham Ahmed and Abdulla Sinan in a plot to overthrow the current administration since 2013. The former President is also being charged with influencing the Supreme Court to issue the ruling on the 01st of February that ordered the release of nine high-profile political prisoners and the reinstatement of 12 opposition Members of Parliament.
The nation’s long serving statesman is currently serving a prison sentence of one year, seven months and six days for the obstruction of justice for refusing to hand over his mobile phone to the police after his arrest during the State of Emergency on the 05th of February after President Abdulla Yameen, Gayoom’s half-brother, refused to implement the February 01st Supreme Court ruling.
