Nasheed and his party have maintained that the charges

of illegally detaining Chief Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed prior to his controversial resignation on February 7, 2012 � are a politically-motivated attempt to prevent him from contesting presidential elections scheduled for later this year. The UN, US, UK and now the EU and the Commonwealth have joined India in urging restraint on both sides, and "inclusive" elections in September. In response to the international statements, the Maldives' Foreign Ministry issued a statement emphasising that the political situation remained "calm and normal", "and does not warrant other countries and international organisations to issue statements characterising the situation in any other light", the Minivan News reported. The Foreign Ministry insisted that the judiciary and prosecutor general were independent, and said the court case against Nasheed "would have thus proceeded, and be where it is today, even if Mr Nasheed remained as president". "The government also has full faith in the ability of the Independent Elections Commission to decide the eligibility of various candidates contesting the elections and in organising the electoral process in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the Maldives," the statement added.