For months he had sought permission to go overseas for the surgery, but the Yameen government had repeatedly denied the request insisting that the microdiscectomy surgery could be done in Maldives.
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Mohamed Nasheed flew from the archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean on Monday after the government agreed to his temporary release from a 13-year jail term imposed for charges relating to the detention of a judge while he was president.
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and Maldives James Dauris has, on Tuesday, met with former President Mohamed Nasheed.
On Saturday, the government granted permission for Nasheed to travel after pressure from the worldwide community including human rights groups and his lawyer Amal Clooney, who lobbied for sanctions on Maldives leaders.
Lawyers for Nasheed have hit out at the government for delaying treatment on his spinal cord, but his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has agreed to an amended condition of providing a relative to communicate Nasheed’s whereabouts while overseas.
“This kind of blackmail is illegal, unheard of in worldwide affairs, and totally outrageous”, Latheef told AFP before leaving Male with his client.
It was not clear what they discussed, but Kerry had previously criticised the administration of strongman President Abdulla Yameen during a visit to neighbouring Sri Lanka a year ago. Nasheed’s brother is acting as guarantor during his stay overseas.
Nasheed is convicted of ordering the military to arrest a senior judge when he was in power in 2012.
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The United Nations ruled that Nasheed’s trial was unfair, and called for his immediate release. Elected in 2008 in the first multiparty presidential election after 30 years of dictatorship, Mr. Nasheed built closer ties with the West and advocated moderate Islam within the Muslim-majority state.
