Legislators dismiss nation's chief prosecutor

The political crisis in the Maldives deepened, with lawmakers voting to fire the country's chief public prosecutor, after he refused to press corruption charges against the country's sacked vice-president.

The dismissal happened at a hastily convened session on Tuesday night shortly after the president bowed to international pressure and lifted a state of emergency that had been imposed following an alleged plot to blow him up.

Fifty-seven lawmakers of the 85-member Parliament voted late on Tuesday to fire Prosecutor General Muhtaz Muhzin. Others were absent or abstained from voting.