DHAKA: The Maldives has put former president Mohamed Nasheed back in jail a month after his 13-year prison sentence was commuted to house arrest, his party said on Tuesday.

The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said police and prison officials clashed with its supporters as they removed Nasheed from his home in the capital Male and took him to the high-security prison island of Maafushi on August 23 night.

‘Nasheed’s transfer back to jail is in clear breach of the Maldives’ constitution, which provides no provision for reversing a commutation of a sentence,’ the MDP said.

Nasheed, the archipelago’s first democratically-elected leader, was sentenced to 13 years in jail in March after a court convicted him under tough anti-terror laws.

The charges relate to the arrest of a judge accused of corruption when Nasheed, who was toppled in February 2012, was president.

Supporters of the former leader maintain his conviction was an attempt by the regime of President Abdulla Yameen to silence him.

Nasheed’s sentence was formally commuted to house arrest on July 19 and it is not clear why he was taken back to prison.

BDST: 1750 HRS, AUG 24, 2015
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