Former Maldives vice president gets 10 years on suicide charge

A Maldives court has convicted the country's former vice president on a terrorism charge for possession of firearms and sentenced him to 10 years in prison, ABC News reported Monday.

The decision by the Criminal Court on Sunday in a session closed to the media made Ahmed Adeeb the fourth high-profile politician to be jailed on a terrorism charge since President Yameen Abdul Gayoom was elected in 2013.

Former President Mohamed Nasheed, former Defense Minister Mohamed Nazim and head of a leading political party, Sheik Imran Abdulla, are the others to get lengthy prison terms. Nasheed has since been granted asylum in Britain.

The cases have been criticized for a lack of due process violations.

Adeeb still faces charges of trying to assassinate Gayoom when an explosion hit the presidential speedboat last year.

Gayoom made his trusted young protégé Adeeb his vice president last July after sacking his running mate in the 2013 election.

However, Adeeb was arrested just days after the September blast on Gayoom's speedboat. The blast wounded the president's wife, an aide and a bodyguard.

Later, authorities charged him with possessing firearms prohibited under the country's terrorism law, and with corruption.

The government says the mysterious blast was an assassination attempt even though FBI investigators said they found no evidence of a bomb explosion.

Source ; MENA