Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Maldives on the trial of former President Mohammed Nasheed.

We have a number of serious concerns about increasing political tensions in the Maldives and the arrest of former President Nasheed, who has now been sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for forceful abduction. As I said in my statement of 13 March, despite calls from the international community for due process to be followed, we are concerned that the former President's trial has not been conducted in a transparent and impartial manner nor in accordance with due legal process.

I made my concerns very clear when I discussed this issue with the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, Dunya Maumoon, on 6 March. As I also said in my statement of 13 March, should Mr Nasheed decide to appeal, we will watch that process closely and hope that Mr Nasheed will be properly and transparently accorded the rights that every citizen of the Maldives is entitled to.