<p class="title">A court in the Maldives has freed an opposition leader, setting aside a lower court's conviction for bribery.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The High Court, in hearing an appeal by Qasim Ibrahim, said on Monday that there were procedural violations by the Criminal Court in convicting him.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ibrahim, a political party leader and businessman owning a chain of tourist resorts, was sentenced to more than three years in prison last year after he joined forces with the opposition in trying to unseat President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was accused of offering to fund re-election campaigns of government lawmakers in return for voting for an opposition-sponsored no-faith motion against the parliamentary speaker.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ibrahim was exiled in Germany following heart surgery in Singapore and only returned home earlier this month after Yameen's presidential election defeat.</p>
<p class="title">A court in the Maldives has freed an opposition leader, setting aside a lower court's conviction for bribery.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The High Court, in hearing an appeal by Qasim Ibrahim, said on Monday that there were procedural violations by the Criminal Court in convicting him.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ibrahim, a political party leader and businessman owning a chain of tourist resorts, was sentenced to more than three years in prison last year after he joined forces with the opposition in trying to unseat President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.</p>.<p class="bodytext">He was accused of offering to fund re-election campaigns of government lawmakers in return for voting for an opposition-sponsored no-faith motion against the parliamentary speaker.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Ibrahim was exiled in Germany following heart surgery in Singapore and only returned home earlier this month after Yameen's presidential election defeat.</p>