Ex-Maldives Prez Nasheed to appeal jail sentence in SC

Former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, who is serving a 13-year jail sentence on terror charges, will challenge the verdict against him in the Supreme Court.
Nasheed, who had earlier decided not to appeal his prison sentence, has now opted to move the country's apex court, his lawyers said last night.
48-year-old Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail in March over the arbitrary arrest of chief criminal judge Abdullah Muhammed during his presidency.
The former President had earlier said he would not seek a legal remedy but instead opt for a political solution.

Nasheed is not someone "who will remain unrelenting", his lawyer Hisan Hussain was quoted by Maldives Independent as saying.
As his jailing gets prolonged, it is very clear to him that "the Maldivian economy is being adversely affected as a result of foreign pressure", the lawyer said.

Therefore, he has now decided "to seek a solution through the judiciary as urged by President (Abdulla) Yameen," Hussain said.
Nasheed resigned as the Maldives' leader in February 2012 after weeks of protests over the arrest of judge Mohamed on corruption allegations.
He claimed that he was forced to quit after soldiers and police mutinied and overran his party's headquarters in the capital Male.

However his successor, Mohamed Waheed, who had been serving as vice-president, had said Nasheed left of his own accord.
Nasheed had taken refuge at the Indian High Commission in Male to avoid being arrested in connection with the same case in February 2013.
India, the US and the European Union had all expressed concern over Nasheed's imprisonment and conviction. His conviction drew widespread criticism over the apparent lack of due process in the 19-day trial.
Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of this Indian Ocean archipelago nation in 2008 ending a 30-year autocratic rule by the current president Abdulla Yameen's half-brother Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.