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Maldives slams jailed Nasheed for UK 'publicity visit'

The Maldives' foreign minister on Monday lambasted jailed former president Mohamed Nasheed, accusing him of using prison leave for publicity after he met Prime Minister David Cameron while in Britain for medical treatment. Dunya Maumoon accused Nasheed, who was granted 30 days' leave to travel to London for spinal cord surgery, of exploiting the visit for political gain, saying it was "not medical leave, but media leave". Nasheed's conviction last March on terror-related charges has been widely criticised by the international community. "It is now clear the former president has been disingenuous at best, and misleading at worst, in seeking medical leave in the UK," Maumoon said in a statement. "The government acted in good faith in allowing Mr Nasheed to travel abroad for treatment. Yet it is now clear his primary goal was to court publicity in the United Kingdom. This is not medical leave, but media leave," she said. Nasheed, 48, left the Maldives last week under a deal brokered by Sri Lanka, India and former colonial power Britain. He and his lawyers were received at Number 10 Downing Street on Saturday, where Cameron pledged strong support for his cause. "The Prime Minister told Mr Nasheed that the UK would continue to raise concerns about the erosion of democracy and wider situation in the Maldives," the British Foreign Office said in a statement Saturday. The Maldives' foreign minister's attack on Nasheed came hours before he addressed a high-profile news conference in London along with his legal team, which includes celebrity human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. "The opportunity for Mr Nasheed to clear his name remains in the Maldives, not in the TV studios of London or Los Angeles," Maumoon said. Nasheed is set for surgery in London for a spinal cord injury allegedly sustained while being tortured under the government of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom -- foreign minister Dunya Maumoon's father. Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008 and served for four years before he was toppled in what he called a coup backed by the military and police. He was sentenced to 13 years in jail on terrorism charges relating to the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge in 2012, when he was still in power. The United Nations has said his trial was seriously flawed and he should be released and compensated for wrongful detention.