Former Maldives Vice President Convicted Plotting To Kill President

Former Maldives vice president Ahmed Adeeb has been sentenced for 15 years jail after convicted for plotting to assassinate President Abdulla Yameen.

The troubled island nation has been rocked by political turmoil in recent years and almost all the rivals of the president are either put in jail or are exiled from the Maldives.

Last year Addeb plotted for setting off bomb on Yameen’s speedboat.

However, the president escaped the blast unscathed, but his wife got slightly wounded along with two others. FBI investigated and couldn’t find evidence of a bomb.

Two of Adeeb’s military bodyguards were also convicted linked to the plotting.

Couple of weeks before the first democratically-elected leader, Mohamed Nasheed, was granted asylum in Britain.

Nasheed was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges. He was permitted to travel to Britain earlier this year in January for a surgery.

The hearings and verdict of Adeeb, 34, and his two bodyguards were not made public citing national security concerns. Reporters were also barred from attending the trial.

Adeeb’s lawyer Moosa Siraj said, “The Criminal Court has barred me from calling the trial unfair, but we have concerns and intend to launch an appeal immediately.”