Maldivian police on Monday arrested the country's first democratically-elected president Mohamed Nasheed after he again failed to turn up for the start of a trial for abuse of power, his party said.
"President Nasheed grabbed from protesting supporters, arrested and being taken away from Fares-Mathoda," his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor tweeted from a remote atoll in the Indian Ocean archipelago.
The arrest came after a special court on Sunday ordered police to arrest Nasheed, who had challenged the legality of a criminal trial against him.
The magistrates court on the island of Hulhumale issued the arrest warrant after Nasheed failed for a second time to show up before a special three-judge bench set up to try him.
An official said the warrant asked police to "keep Mr Nasheed in custody until he is produced before the court".AFP
