Maldives lifts emergency

The Sri Lanka-based Maldivian Democratic Party said the overnight decision by President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to lift the emergency after two months could have an immediate impact on about 80 detainees.

"We welcome the lifting of the emergency but in practical terms it means very little to the Maldivians because the president is still the main judicial officer who can interpret laws," party spokesman Mohamed Latheef said.

He said the arrest and detention of anti-Gayoom suspects would not stop with the taking away of the state of emergency.

"We have been living in a state of emergency for the past two decades," Latheef said referring to Gayoom's rule since 1978. President Gayoom is currently on his sixth five-year term and Asia's longest serving leader.