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AFP
Colombo
A Maldives court released a political prisoner and heard appeals for freedom from several others on Monday, including a former president, just hours after strongman leader Abdulla Yameen conceded a shock election defeat.
Yameen, who jailed or exiled most of his rivals during a turbulent five-year term, was unexpectedly beaten by an opposition candidate who immediately urged the ousted president free those he had incarcerated.
Opposition lawmaker and former police chief Abdulla Riyaz was released by the Criminal Court in Male on Monday. He was being held indefinitely following an alleged plot to impeach Yameen in February that saw dozens detained.
Sources in the Maldives said Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the country's longest-serving leader and estranged half-brother to Yameen, was among a number of political prisoners brought from prison to the capital in order to lodge appeals against their sentences.
It was not immediately clear when the court would rule on all the petitions, although opposition sources said they expected the process to continue into the night.
The family of Gayoom, 80, his legislator son Faris Maumoon, and son-in-law Mohamed Nadheem, said the trio had all filed applications for their freedom.
