Maldives government has decided to allow jailed opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed to travel to Britain for surgery.Issuing a brief statement last evening, Maldivian Foreign Ministry said that the permission has been granted on the condition that Nasheed would serve the remainder of his sentence upon return to the Maldives after the surgery.

Nasheed had complained of a spinal cord problem requiring specialist surgery that is not available in the small Indian Ocean archipelago.

Maldivian Democratic Party chief Nasheed is serving a 13-year jail term following a controversial trial last year.