Maldives army seals off parliament, arrests MPs

Security forces in the Maldives  have sealed off the country's parliament and arrested two opposition legislators amid a deepening crisis over President Abdulla Yameen's refusal to free jailed politicians.

Soldiers in riot gear surrounded the parliament building in Male on Sunday soon after the opposition petitioned the parliament to remove the island nation's attorney general and its chief prosecutor. 

They accuse the pair of breaking the law by failing to act on a Supreme Court ruling overturning convictions against nine dissidents, including exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed. 

The top court's verdict has plunged the Maldives into fresh political turmoil and dealt a major blow to Yameen, who is accused of corruption, misrule and rights abuses. He denies the allegations. 

The ruling also gave the opposition a majority in the 85-member parliament as it reinstated 12 members of parliament who were stripped of their seats last year.

But two of the 12 were arrested at the airport on Sunday, shortly after they returned to the Maldives after months in exile.

Abdulla Sinan and Ilham Ahmed were detained on charges of bribery, a police spokesman told Al Jazeera. 

"We call on the police to release the MPs immediately, and to stop following unlawful order, to stop obstructing the lawful mandate of Parliamentarians," Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, parliamentary leader of the opposition, said in a statement. 

"In a desperate attempt to cling onto power, President Yameen has illegally overrun the state: his Attorney General has illegally assumed the powers of the apex court, while the military has overrun the legislature," he added.  

The motion to remove Attorney General Mohamed Anil came hours after he accused  the Supreme Court of trying to impeach the president.

"I have informed all law enforcement agencies they must not obey such an illegal order," he said in a televised appearance flanked by the chiefs of army and the police.

Ahmed Shiyam, army chief, said the security forces would follow Anil's advice and "will not wait and watch as the Maldives goes into crisis".

Later, in a ceremony broadcast live on state TV, Shiyam led soldiers and police officers in reciting their oath at the military headquarters in Male. 

The official who heads the parliament secretariat has also resigned. 

"I have stepped down," Ahmed Mohamed told Al Jazeera, without offering further details.

Following the ruling, the parliament speaker, a Yameen ally, called off the opening of the parliament, scheduled for February 5. 

Nasheed, speaking to a private television channel, called for protests and urged rank-and-file members of the security forces to arrest the attorney general well as the chiefs of the army and police. 

Anil's statements were "tantamount to a coup," he said in a post on Twitter.  

Source: aljazeera