(CNN) The Indian Ocean island nation of the Maldives is engulfed in a political crisis, after the President defied a Supreme Court ruling to reinstall opposition MPs and release political prisoners. Maldives' President Abdulla Yameen shakes hand with China's President Xi Jinping after a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in December 2017. Yameen refused to comply, and instead dispatched the military to the Supreme Court in the capital, Male, on Monday. Security forces "blockaded and locked the Supreme Court building from outside and hence the justices are without any food," Maldives' former Attorney General Husnu Al Suood tweeted. "The state of Emergency does not force any restrictions on traveling to the Maldives or within the Maldives."

Source: CNN February 06, 2018 16:52 UTC