Maldives braced for 'coup' verdict

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A report into the alleged coup that ousted the president of the Maldives in February was due to be released on Thursday, with supporters of the former leader threatening more protests in the capital Male.

Mohamed Nasheed, who says he was forced out by the military, has refused to recognise the new government, and frequent clashes have erupted in recent months between police and political activists in the Indian Ocean atoll nation.

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said it would hold a mass rally in Male to coincide with the release of the official report into how their leader was toppled from power.

The MDP has banked on the investigation supporting its claim that Nasheed was the victim of a coup, but Maldivian officials said the report was likely to say he had instead stepped down due to a police mutiny and civil unrest.

The Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) said it was 'extremely concerned' about the risk of violence when the Commission of National Inquiry (CoNI) report is made public on Thursday.

The five-member CoNI was asked to establish the facts behind Nasheed's fall and his claim that he was ejected by the military.

MDP's nominee in the CoNI, Ahmed Saeed, resigned Wednesday night from the Commonwealth-initiated panel saying the investigation was incomplete and it had ignored key evidence.

Since February's upheaval, which badly affected the islands' key tourism sector, scores of protesters have been detained at demonstrations before being later released.

MDP spokesman Hamid Abdul Ghafoor told AFP by telephone on Wednesday that police were intimidating its supporters and trying to block them from travelling from other islands to Male for the planned demonstration.

President Mohamed Waheed, who took over from Nasheed and was formerly his deputy, said he would back the report's conclusions.

"CoNI's independence, impartiality, and credibility has now been very well established," he said in a statement.

Waheed has rejected international calls for early elections saying it was not practical to hold a fresh vote before July 2013.