Colombo, Jan 29 (NIA) – Maldives former President Mohamed Nasheed, who lives in exile in Britain, arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday, which his party termed as a ‘private visit’.
Sources from the opposition Maldives Democratic Party told NewsIn.Asia that Nasheed would be in Sri Lanka for a few days before leaving back for the UK.
Sources said Nasheed was expected to brief the media during his stay in Colombo, but refused to say if he would be meeting any Sri Lakan leaders.
This is not the first time Nasheed has arrived in Sri Lanka after being given a political asylum status by Britain in 2016.
The exiled leader arrived in the island country last year during which the Sri Lanka government refuted reports that he had met the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister secretly.
Nasheed who is the leader of the MDP is Maldives first democratically elected President. He was jailed in the Maldives in 2015, under current President Abdulla Yameen’s government, on terrorism charges after allegedly ordering the arrest of a judge during his tenure as the President.
He was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.
In January 2016, Nasheed was allowed to go to Briatin for treatment on his back, after President Abdulla Yameen came under international pressure to let him leave.
Since then, Nasheed has called for sanctions against Yameen and his allies for detaining political prisoners and for alleged human rights abuses, allegations which the Maldives government has vehemently denied.