Police in the Maldives have arrested the ousted president, Mohamed Nasheed, after he ignored a summons to appear in court. Nasheed is facing charges of illegally ordering the arrest of a judge appointed by Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who ruled the Maldives for 30 years before Nasheed became its first democratically elected president in 2008. Nasheed was ousted earlier this year in what he has described as a coup at gunpoint by Gayoom’s supporters. Nasheed is well known internationally for his activism around the issue of global warming, which he says threatens the survival of his small island country. On Monday, supporters of Nasheed said he was pepper-sprayed and dragged away by police to jail.