Imprisoned former Maldives leader fights for his release

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed, who was jailed last month on terrorism charges, has assembled a heavyweight international legal team including the British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney to secure his release.

The former leader of the Indian Ocean archipelago is seeking to keep up international pressure on the government of President Abdulla Yameen after the US and Canada both warned the country was sliding backwards after a brief period of democracy.

Nasheed has been jailed periodically over the past 20 years for his dissident views, and his latest sentence of 13 years in prison triggered street protests by thousands of supporters in the tropical island chain, which is known for its tourist resorts.

The new team will take up his case with the UN working group on arbitrary detention while also seeking his release under Maldivian law.

"I am determined to ensure the world understands the injustice of my detention and the broader suffering of the Maldivian people under President Abdulla Yameen," Nasheed said from the Dhoonidhoo detention centre, where he is being held in police custody.

Ms Clooney, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers in London, has also represented the former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, and the Al Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy, accused of aiding terrorism in Egypt.

Her international profile rose sharply last year with her marriage to the Hollywood actor George Clooney.

Also on Nasheed's legal team are Jared Genser, founder of Freedom Now, a campaign group for prisoners of conscience, and Ben Emmerson, a barrister at Matrix Chambers who sits on international tribunals in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic party is seeking to keep up the pressure on the administration of Mr Yameen, which has been criticised by the UN and human rights groups for the politicised nature of Mr Nasheed's trial.

The Indian government, which is close to Nasheed, is continuing to exert diplomatic pressure. Mr Yameen has called on all international parties to respect the outcome of the trial.

The MDP has held daily demonstrations in the capital, Male, since Mr Nasheed was jailed, while a group of female supporters broke a taboo by protesting at the international airport in view of some of the 3,000 tourists who arrive in the country each day.

A former defence minister has also been jailed and hundreds of protesters arrested as the Yameen government cracks down on dissent.

The political instability has worried investors, with the government struggling to finance a planned $800m redevelopment of its main airport.

Nasheed came to power in the country's first democratic election in 2008, ousting Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled for 30 years, and putting the Muslim-majority country on the map for its peaceful democratic transition.

But he resigned in 2012 after losing the support of the police and army, later saying he had been forced to quit under duress.

Several parties that formerly supported the government have since switched to Nasheed's camp.

While in power, Nasheed also campaigned against climate change, drawing attention to the plight of small island states such as the Maldives in the face of rising sea levels.

In an echo of an underwater cabinet meeting that drew international attention to Mr Nasheed's government in 2009, hundreds of divers are to hold an "underwater protest" for his release on Friday.

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