Press release: Foreign Secretary statement on the state of emergency declared in the Maldives

Today’s (5 February) development by President Yameen to declare a state of emergency in Maldives follows an order by the Supreme Court on 1 February to immediately release nine convicted political leaders and retry their cases.

The Supreme Court also ordered that all MPs who have not been allowed to exercise their responsibilities should be permitted to sit in the People’s Majlis (Parliament) in accordance with the Constitution and the law, which has not been carried out by the Government of Maldives.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said:

I am gravely concerned about the declaration of a state of emergency in Maldives, and the accompanying suspension of fundamental rights. The damage being done to democratic institutions in Maldives and the sustained misuse of process in Parliament is deeply worrying.

I call on President Yameen and the Government of Maldives to peacefully end the state of emergency, restore all articles of the constitution, take immediate steps to implement in full the order of the Supreme Court, and to permit and support the full, free and proper functioning of Parliament.