COLOMBO: A former minister was among four people charged with attempting to overthrow Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the government said on Dec 7.

Ibrahim Zaki, a former tourism minister in the Indian Ocean state of 1,192 tiny coral islands scattered across the equator, was charged Monday (Dec 6) along with three others of taking part in pro-democracy rallies.

Zaki had also been the secretary general of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, which groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The government of Gayoom, 67, said in a statement that the four men had been charged for "offences against the State, for attempting to overthrow the constitutionally-elected government of the Maldives."

If convicted, the men could be jailed for life.

Gayoom quelled protests against his administration in the capital island of Male in August by imposing a state of emergency that was lifted two months later.

He relaunched a reform program of his own in October.

"With the lifting of the state of emergency and the resumption of the Special Majlis (parliament), there can be no doubt that the reform process is fully back on track," the government said in October.

However, pro-democracy activists who are based in neighbouring Sri Lanka say that Gayoom's reforms are cosmetic.

The lifting of the emergency followed intense international condemnation of Gayoom's tough action against pro-democracy activists and a European Union resolution seeking an aid embargo on Asia's most expensive tourist destination.

The Maldivian government has maintained it is committed to democratic reforms in the tiny archipelago and that those agitating against the president's rule are fundamentalists.

Courtesy Agence France Presse