Ex-Maldives leader says he may not return after UK treatment

LONDON (AP) — The jailed former president of the Maldives said Monday that he may not return home after being temporarily freed to seek medical treatment in Britain.

Nasheed was released last week so he could undergo spinal surgery for chronic back pain he says is a result of torture during earlier bouts of imprisonment.

Nasheed's international legal team — U.S. attorney Jared Genser and British lawyers Amal Clooney and Ben Emmerson — is pressing London and Washington to impose asset freezes and travel bans on senior Maldivian officials until Nasheed and other political prisoners are freed.

Nasheed and his lawyers accuse President Yameen Abdul Gayoom of corruption and of turning a blind eye to growing Islamic extremism.