Nasheed, the opposition leader, was controversially jailed for 13 years under anti-terror laws last year.

He was allowed to travel to the UK to receive treatment on his spine.

His lawyer Hasan Latheef said Nasheed had been granted political refugee status, but the British government has not commented.

A former human rights campaigner, Nasheed became the nation's first democratically elected leader in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.