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| Wednesday, 8 December 2004 |
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Former minister among four charged with coup attempt in Maldives COLOMBO, Tuesday (AFP) A former minister was among four people charged Monday with attempting to overthrow Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the government said. Ibrahim Zaki, a former tourism minister in the Indian Ocean state of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered across the equator, was charged along with three others of taking part in pro-democracy rallies. Zaki had also been the secretary general of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The government of Gayoom, 67, said in a statement that the four men had been charged for "offences against the State, for attempting to overthrow the constitutionally-elected government of the Maldives." If convicted, the men could be jailed for life. Gayoom quelled protests against his administration in the capital island of Male in August by imposing a state of emergency that was lifted two months later. He relaunched a reform program of his own in October. "With the lifting of the state of emergency and the resumption of the Special Majlis (parliament), there can be no doubt that the reform process is fully back on track," the government said in October. The Maldivian government has maintained it is committed to democratic reforms in the tiny archipelago and that those agitating against the president's rule are fundamentalists.. |
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