Manindra
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NEW DELHI: The wife of jailed Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed has made an emotional appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying India needs to step in to get her husband out of prison and that she fears that plans are afoot to murder the former President in custody.
Speaking with ET, Laila Ali said that India's steps till now condemning the current state of affairs in Maldives are welcome but more has to be done to free her husband, who has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges that include terrorism.
Laila, who spoke on the matter with the international media for the first time, called the trail that led to her husband's imprisonment a "total sham" and said that Nasheed is looking at India to "intervene to restore the democratic rule of law".
"I do not know what it will take PM Modi to do it but my wish is that India helps in ensuring that my husband is freed unconditionally and that representative democracy is restored. How India does it is for the PM to decide," she said in a telephonic interview from Male.
She also expressed fears that a plot may be afoot to murder her husband in custody and make it appear like a suicide. "I fear for his life in prison. This week I got some information from close friends that people in the cabinet as well as some retired and serving armed forces personnel are plotting to kill him in jail and make it look like he committed suicide," Ali said, adding that she has shot off letters sharing this fear with several leaders in Maldives.
He has been to jail several times in political cases but never have I feared for his life like now," she says.
The former President's wife added that she was grateful for what India has been doing diplomatically and agreed that things would have been "much worse" if India and not taken up the matter.
India, on its part, has expressed is concerns on the Nasheed trial and even cancelled the visit of PM Modi that was scheduled to the island nation earlier this month.
Ali, who is rarely seen in public and had taken a backseat even when Nasheed was the President, said that the judicial process in her husband's case has been compromised, claiming that the legal team has been given just three days to file an appeal, which is an "impossible task".
"The whole trial has gone by without any access to lawyers and no time to prepare. It is the most rushed trial in the history of our country," she said.
As reported by ET earlier, India has come down heavily on the Abdullah Yameen government in Maldives, asserting that actions by his regime since the arrest of Nasheed are a "sham and a travesty of justice". India believes that the Maldives situation could impact regional stability and that Nasheed's trial is an attempt to eliminate him as a political opponent by preventing him from contesting the 2018 presidential elections.
Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed's wife Laila Ali seeks India's help - The Economic Times
Speaking with ET, Laila Ali said that India's steps till now condemning the current state of affairs in Maldives are welcome but more has to be done to free her husband, who has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges that include terrorism.
Laila, who spoke on the matter with the international media for the first time, called the trail that led to her husband's imprisonment a "total sham" and said that Nasheed is looking at India to "intervene to restore the democratic rule of law".
"I do not know what it will take PM Modi to do it but my wish is that India helps in ensuring that my husband is freed unconditionally and that representative democracy is restored. How India does it is for the PM to decide," she said in a telephonic interview from Male.
She also expressed fears that a plot may be afoot to murder her husband in custody and make it appear like a suicide. "I fear for his life in prison. This week I got some information from close friends that people in the cabinet as well as some retired and serving armed forces personnel are plotting to kill him in jail and make it look like he committed suicide," Ali said, adding that she has shot off letters sharing this fear with several leaders in Maldives.
He has been to jail several times in political cases but never have I feared for his life like now," she says.
The former President's wife added that she was grateful for what India has been doing diplomatically and agreed that things would have been "much worse" if India and not taken up the matter.
India, on its part, has expressed is concerns on the Nasheed trial and even cancelled the visit of PM Modi that was scheduled to the island nation earlier this month.
Ali, who is rarely seen in public and had taken a backseat even when Nasheed was the President, said that the judicial process in her husband's case has been compromised, claiming that the legal team has been given just three days to file an appeal, which is an "impossible task".
"The whole trial has gone by without any access to lawyers and no time to prepare. It is the most rushed trial in the history of our country," she said.
As reported by ET earlier, India has come down heavily on the Abdullah Yameen government in Maldives, asserting that actions by his regime since the arrest of Nasheed are a "sham and a travesty of justice". India believes that the Maldives situation could impact regional stability and that Nasheed's trial is an attempt to eliminate him as a political opponent by preventing him from contesting the 2018 presidential elections.
Maldives opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed's wife Laila Ali seeks India's help - The Economic Times
