Jailed Defence Minister Col. (Rtd.) Mohamed Nazim is to depart on medical leave on Thursday night.

Maldives Correctional Service (MCS) said that its medical board has approved his request for medical leave, following a request by the Human Rights Commission of Maldives (HRCM).

While MCS confirmed that the former minister is to depart at around 8pm on Thursday, it did not disclose a location.

Nazim had previously traveled abroad twice on medical release, both times to Singapore.

Back in 2015, the former defence minister’s family publicly stated that he was having issues with vision due to kidney damage and that he was at risk of losing his eyesight; he did not have the medical condition prior to incarceration.

His family has expressed concern over the delay in providing him the adequate medical care.

Nazim was sentenced to 11 years on a weapon smuggling charge in March 2015. He was transferred to house arrest in December 2017, but was transferred back to prison in February following the controversial Supreme Court ruling.

President Abdulla Yameen’s former deputy, Ahmed Adeeb has since admitted that the pistol found in Nazim’s apartment had been ‘planted’.

United National Working Group of Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD), in 2017, citing several issues in the investigation ruled that Nazim’s detention is illegal and declared that he should be released immediately.

He is also one of the nine political prisoners, whose release was ordered in Supreme Court’s controversial ruling, on 1st February.