Nasheed's party condemns 'intimidation' of Maldivian MPs

"A day after an attempt to frame Abdulla Jabir, MP and Hamid A Ghafoor, MP, over the weekend, another attempt was made on Sunday, by the government to intimidate two Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) Members of Parliament, Ali Azim and Mohamed Nashiz," the main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said in a statement.

"At a time when many Members of Parliament have been beaten up by the police and the security forces, no action taken on the perpetrators and at a time when one Member of Parliament has been brutally murdered and no one has been held accountable, it is absolutely imperative that votes on no confidence motions in Parliament is taken by secret vote," Mariya Didi, the MDP spokesperson said.

MPs Abdulla Jabir, Hamid Abdul Ghafoor and Nasheed's former political advisor Ibrahim Hussain Zaki and former press secretary Mohamed Zuhair and several political figures belonging to opposition parties had been arrested from an uninhabited island on Friday for allegedly drinking alcohol and later released.