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  Maldives strips jailed Nasheed of pension

Maldives strips jailed Nasheed of pension

AFP
Published : Apr 21, 2016, 6:25 am IST
Updated : Apr 21, 2016, 6:25 am IST

The Maldives on Wednesday stripped jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed of his pension entitlements and health insurance, after demanding he return from medical leave in Britain.

The Maldives on Wednesday stripped jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed of his pension entitlements and health insurance, after demanding he return from medical leave in Britain.

President Abdulla Yameen approved an amendment to a law on entitlements for past Presidents, one day after the government cancelled Mr Nasheed’s prison leave and said it expected him to return “expediently”.

The 48-year-old former leader was jailed in 2015 on controversial terrorism charges, but was allowed to travel to Britain in January for treatment after he fell ill in jail.

The government said ch-anges to the law meant former Presidents and their spouses are denied entitlements “if they are convicted of any criminal offence (committed) during their term in office”. Mr Nash-eed is the only one of the Maldives’ three past Presi-dents with a criminal conviction. The government, in a statement, said past presidents were normally entitled to an annual pension of $214,000 in addition to medical insurance and unspecified other benefits.

Mr Nasheed became the first democratically-elected President of the Maldives in 2008 and served for four years before he was toppled in what he called a coup backed by the military and the police. He was jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges relating to the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge in 2012, when he was still in power.

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