UK Chides Maldives Crackdown

Britain yesterday criticised the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in the Maldives and raised concerns about the state of emergency that the islands' government justified by saying it was in danger of being toppled.

Hundreds have been arrested after Friday's protests in the capital, Male, which ended with police firing teargas. The crowd, estimated at 5,000, were demanding the release of political prisoners.

There has been growing dissent on the 1,000 low-lying islands which make up the Maldives in recent years. Its president, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, is Asia's longest running autocratic ruler.

Mohammed Latheef, a spokesman for the Maldivian Democratic party based in Sri Lanka, told the Guardian people had been rounded up and beaten by Mr Gayoom's security service. "They have dragged people away who have not been seen since."

The state of emergency, which gives sweeping powers of arrest and detention, could last for three months.

A Foreign Office statement said the British government was "concerned by reports of large numbers of arrests, including of members of the Maldives parliament".

Among those arrested were Mohamed Munavvar, a former attorney general, and Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, a former minister. Both were sacked after reports they had backed reformists in an unsuccessful move towards registering a political party.

Mr Gayoom, who won a sixth five-year term in a referendum last year, does not allow opposition parties. The nation was promised a transition to democracy in June.

Government spokesman, Ahmed Shaheed, said that "fundamentalists" were behind the demonstrations in the Muslim state.