Four men have been charged in the Maldives with plotting to overthrow President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Asia's longest-serving ruler, his spokesman said on Tuesday. "We're charging them with conspiracy to overthrow the government," Ahmed Shaheed, chief government spokesman of the Indian Ocean island archipelago, said. The four charged on Sunday are former tourism minister Ibrahim Zaki; former attorney general Mohamed Munavvar; prominent businessman Gasim Ibrahim; and Ibrahim Ismail, a member of a special Majlis, or constitutional assembly. They face a maximum of 25 years in jail if found guilty, Hassan Sobir, Maldives High Commissioner (ambassador) to London, said. He expected their trials to start next spring. Shaheed said he and Sobir were in Brussels to meet members of the European Parliament and other EU institutions "to update stakeholders on what's going on in the Maldives" following a spate of negative publicity which followed the August violence. Shaheed said the government had made progress over the last year in introducing a reform agenda which would create an office of prime minister to distinguish between the functions of head of state and government, and would widen the powers of parliament. He added that other reforms included setting up a national human rights commission and bringing the police under civilian, instead of military, control.
