Ex-President, Supreme Court judges arrested as Maldives declares emergency

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency in the honeymoon islands, before heavily armed troops stormed the country's top court and arrested the Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed. Earlier, a former president was also arrested in a deepening political crisis.

The tiny tourist archipelago has been plunged into chaos recently, with the president pitted against the Supreme Court after he refused to comply with its Thursday order to release nine political dissidents.
The tense standoff comes amid a years-long government crackdown on dissent that has battered the image of the upmarket holiday paradise, with the president jailing almost all the political opposition since he came to power in 2013.

Maldives police arrested Yameen's estranged half-brother and former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had sided with the main opposition and was campaigning against him.