Officers of the Maldives Police Service, which entered the offices operated by former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s faction of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), have ended their surveillance and guard of the premises. 

The faction’s secretary-general, Abdul Aleem, said that the party had been told that the office was only being guarded due to the lack of any immediate ownership, and therefore asked the faction to take responsibility of it. 

Aleem reportedly then asked officers to produce a letter detailing the reasons behind why they had entered the office last Thursday. They had refused to oblige on the grounds that conduct validated by a court order do not require it to be justified through any other documents. 

While Aleem maintained that the faction would not take responsibility for the premises – of which officers had broken the lock to before beginning their search – the Maldives Police Service has announced that they would stop guarding it from Wednesday onwards. 

The name board and flags were removed as per a Civil Court order, asking the police to shut down the offices in the premises in Henveiru ward of Malé City, called Themaa. The court order also ordered the elected leader of PPM to immediately halt any activities being held under party’s name.

The office was opened in October 2016, after the Civil Court ordered Gayoom to submit the party to its chief advisor, his half-brother and current Maldivian president, Abdulla Yameen. The brothers have been involved in a public dispute since June 2016, with Gayoom officially withdrawing support for his brother’s government in October 2016.