COLOMBO: Jailed former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed has been prevented from appealing against his controversial 13-year jail sentence after authorities refused to release documents needed to prepare his case, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

The spokesman said the honeymoon islands’ first democratically elected president has been denied a copy of the trial proceedings, which he needs to lodge an appeal before a looming deadline.

“The criminal court has tried to block the appeal at every step of the way,” spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said in Colombo. “It is not that he does not want to appeal, but he is not being allowed to file his papers.” Nasheed’s office said the deadline for filing the appeal is Thursday. A Maldivian high commission (embassy) spokesman in Colombo, Hussain Mazin, said it was not until Sunday.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2015

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