Maldivian Police Arrest Ex-President Nasheed

Armed Maldivian police acting on a court order arrested the country's first democratically elected president on Monday after he failed to turn up at his trial for abuse of power, his party said.

Police in riot gear broke down a door of a house where Mohamed Nasheed was staying on the island of Fares Maathodaa in the south of the archipelago nation, a famous honeymoon spot for the rich and famous.

The ex-president, ousted in February in what he considers a coup, was escorted by at least a dozen masked police officers and was taken away by boat to the capital Male, according to his party and photos of the arrest.

"Police are carrying out their duties," senior government spokesman Masood Imad told AFP.

On Sunday a local court ordered police to arrest Nasheed, who has twice failed to show up for trial. He faces charges of abusing his powers while in office by ordering the military to arrest a senior judge.

He has challenged the legality of the trial and says he is unable to get a fair hearing, and has refused to abide by a travel ban that restricts him to the capital island.

A magistrates' court Sunday issued a warrant asking police to "keep Mr. Nasheed in custody until he is produced before the court".

In a statement issued hours before his arrest, Nasheed's MDP party urged the international community to put pressure on his successor as president, Mohamed Waheed.

"The MDP strongly calls on the international community, our development partners, to immediately engage in dialogue with Dr. Waheed to maintain maximum restraint and to not do anything that would disrupt peace and stability of the country," said the statement.

Nasheed, who won the first free elections in the Maldives in 2008, resigned as president in February after public protests and a mutiny by police who took over the state television broadcaster.

A Commission of National Inquiry, consisting of four nationals named by political parties and a Singaporean judge nominated by the Commonwealth group of nations, found the change of president was "legal and constitutional".

If convicted in court, Nasheed could be jailed or banished to a remote island for three years, a punishment that could bar him from future elections.

The next elections are scheduled to take place by July next year.

Nasheed was a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience. He was thrown in jail over a period of six years during the rule of former autocratic leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

Nasheed ousted Gayoom at the 2008 elections. But his party failed to win an outright majority at subsequent parliamentary elections, leading to constant friction between the executive and a hostile legislature.