Free Nasheed or face sanctions

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney yesterday warned she will press for sanctions against the Maldives unless it frees former president Mohamed Nasheed, who has been controversially jailed for 13 years.

London-based Clooney, who is defending the former leader, wrapped up a four-day visit to the upmarket honeymoon destination vowing that she will not give up until he was released.

"The next stage will be to pursue targeted sanctions, travel bans and any other action and recourse that we have against the government (of the Maldives) until this matter is resolved," she told reporters at the Kurumba resort near the capital Male.

"It is disappointing that it has come to this."

The charge against Nasheed relates to the ordering of the arrest of an allegedly corrupt judge when he was still president in 2012. The UN had said his rushed trial earlier this year was seriously flawed. His 13-year jail sentence was commuted to house arrest in July, but last month police took him back to prison in a surprise move that drew fresh criticism from the UN and the US.