Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom has called on the government to end its ‘harassment’ of opposing parliamentarians and members of the general public through state institutions. 

“I call for an end to the intimidation and harassment of opposing parliamentarians and innocent civilians through state institutions” he said in a tweet on Sunday.

Gayoom’s tweet came in response to the police’s search on Qasim Ibrahim’s home and his Jumhooree Party’s primary assembly site. 

Qasim Ibrahim’s arrest prompted a statement from Transparency Maldives which expressed similar reroval, which stated that state institutions have been working actively to ‘curtail the fundamental rights’ of parties in opposition of the government.  

Transparency’s statement further says that the measures placed on Qasim ‘disturbingly’ coincide with falling out with the government despite the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority’s (MIRA) refutation last week of allegations that it has been biased in its conduct against opposition leaders, after it freezed accounts belonging to the Villa Group – founded and operated by Jumhooree Party leader.