Emergency in the Maldives during Political Crisis

Maldives state of emergency declared by government amid political crisis

The Maldives government has declared a state of emergency for 15 days amid a political crisis in the island nation.

The state of emergency gives security officials extra powers to arrest suspects, reports say.

The government has already suspended parliament and ordered the army to resist any moves by the Supreme Court to impeach President Abdulla Yameen.

A few hours after the emergency was declared, security forces entered the Supreme Court, a court spokesman said.

There were judges inside the court but the spokesman said he was unable to contact them.

The court had ordered the reinstatement of 12 MPs, which would see the opposition majority restored.

In a landmark decision, it also ruled the trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed unconstitutional.

Following the Supreme Court's decision on Friday, the government sacked the police commissioner who had pledged to enforce the court ruling.

It also ordered the detention of two opposition MPs who had returned to the Maldives, and warned that any court order to arrest the president for not complying with the Supreme Court ruling would be illegal.

Opposition MP Eva Abdulla said in a statement that the state of emergency was "a desperate move" that showed the government had "lost everything [including the] confidence of the people and institutions".

Mr Nasheed, who is currently in Sri Lanka, was the island's first democratically elected leader.

The Maldives has seen political unrest since he was convicted in 2015 under anti-terrorism laws for ordering the arrest of a judge. His conviction and 13-year sentence was internationally condemned, and he was given political asylum in the UK.

The Maldives previously declared a state of emergency in November 2015, after the government said it was investigating a plot to assassinate Mr Yameen.

That move also came two days before a planned protest by the country's main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic Party.

The Indian Ocean nation has been independent from Britain for 53 years. It was ruled for decades autocratically by then President Maumoon Abdul Gayhoom but became a multi-party democracy in 2008.

However since President Yameen took power in 2013 it has faced questions over freedom of speech, the detention of opponents and the independence of the judiciary.

The nation is made up of 26 coral atolls and 1,192 individual islands, and is popular among foreigners as a luxury tourist destination.

Source: BBC Staff. “Maldives State of Emergency Declared by Government amid Political Crisis.”News , BBC, 5 Feb. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42950997.

Response

Audience: I think that the audience for this article is mainly for people in Maldive and for the countries directly surrounding it. This article did not have a lot of information but seemed more like a recap which made it feel like it was for a more direct audience. The age of the audience would probably be middle aged even though some young people might also be interested in this article.

Author Bias: The author sounds very factual throughout the entire article and does not show strong emotions of a strong bias towards this topic. However, at some points it does seem like the author is against the former President who was just impeached. The author keeps mentioning how after this former president gained power some freedoms had declined for the public. It also sounds as it the author likes the Maldives but believes that this situation could harm it in ways such as tourism declination.

Personal Bias/Opinion: I was a little confused at this article because it seems to just spit out information at the reader without much structure or background information. But from what I understood from this article I do share a similar bias as the author, I feel like the president did not do a good job (from the information presented at least) and did more harm than good for the people. I also looked back a little and there seemed to have been some tension in the Maldives ever since 2015.

Purpose: The author shares an opinion with the public and it feels like since there is a lack of information that is what he/she also wants the audience to believe. This article almost feels like a persuasion that is intentional but not as noticeable, with the limited information the author can get a certain picture in the readers head. I don't actually know much about this situation but that is what I felt like the author wanted to achieve.