Maldives ex-president prevented from leaving country

COLOMBO (AFP) - Maldives authorities on Friday prevented the former president who was ousted in February from leaving the island nation to visit his ill father in Bangkok, a party lawmaker said.

Mohamed Nasheed, 45, who resigned after what he alleges was a coup, is awaiting trial by a special court on charges of giving an illegal order when he was in office to have a judge arrested.

If convicted, he could be jailed or banished to a remote island for three years.

The Maldives, better known as a luxury holiday destination, has been rocked by violent protests over the past year in a stand-off between Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)and its opponents, who are now in power.