Maldives vice president attacks own government, calls judge’s arrest ‘shameful’

By Associated Press

MALE, Maldives — The Maldives vice president said Saturday that he is “ashamed and totally devastated” that the government in which he is a member has arrested a criminal court judge in violation of his freedom from arbitrary arrest.

In a clear indication of divisions within President Mohamed Nasheed’s government, Vice President Mohammed Waheed Hassan blogged that he wondered if the struggles that freed the nation from a 30-year autocracy had been wasted.

“The most important and most precious dividend from the democracy struggle in Maldives has been freedom from fear. It is the knowledge that no one of us will be dragged out of our beds in the middle of the night and taken to an undisclosed location,” Waheed wrote.

“The moment we deny this freedom from one person, we deny that freedom for all.” read more