Former president Mohamed Nasheed on Tuesday thanked the world leaders who helped secure his release for urgent surgery in Britain, after being granted temporary medical leave by the government.
The
opposition leader spent his first day of freedom since his imprisonment
in a top hotel in the capital Colombo and is due to fly to Britain on
Wednesday.
"He
is making calls to world leaders to thank them for their support in
getting him released," his aide, Ahmed Naseem, told international
newswire AFP.
"The
Sri Lankan government has been extremely kind," Naseem said, referring
to an internationally brokered deal to secure Nasheed's 30-day freedom.
AFP
also quoted aides who said Nasheed had decided against speaking to
reporters in Colombo on Tuesday, given the intense diplomacy involved in
brokering the deal, and would only meet his doctors in Colombo before
flying directly to London.
He
had been due to leave the Maldives on Sunday after the government said
he could travel for urgent spinal cord surgery under the deal brokered
by diplomats from India, Sri Lanka and Britain.
But
he refused a government request to leave a relative behind to act as a
guarantor liable to prosecution if he failed to return to serve the rest
of his 13-year sentence, leading to a tense back and forth over
conditions.
The
United States, which has pressed for Nasheed's complete freedom,
welcomed his temporary release and urged President Abdulla Yameen Abdul
Gayoom to take more steps towards democracy.
US
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone to Nasheed on Monday
night, his US lawyer said in a tweet, after his release from the
high-security Maafushi prison located on a small islet near the capital
Male.
"Release
of Nasheed is step in the right direction, urge more engagement from
Government of Maldives on democracy, shared challenges," Kerry said on
Twitter early Tuesday.
source- http://www.haveeru.com.mv/news/65729
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