Maldives top court cancels jail sentence of former president

Colombo - The top court said the leader was wrongfully charged and the criminal court should not have proceeded to trial.

The Maldives Supreme Court on Monday canceled former president Mohamed Nasheed's 13-year jail sentence after a review of the controversial terrorism conviction.

The top court said the island nation's first democratically elected leader was wrongfully charged and the criminal court should not have proceeded to trial.

Under former leader Abdulla Yameen's administration, which jailed a number of opposition leaders on various charges, the Supreme Court previously upheld the conviction in 2016.

Yameen lost power in the September presidential election to Nasheed's ally Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

Nasheed had been found guilty of ordering the military to arresting and detaining the Maldives' criminal court's chief judge in January 2012.