Male: The Maldives opposition leader and two Supreme Court judges have been arrested hours after the government declared a state of emergency in the Indian Ocean nation in the days since the court ordered several jailed politicians to be freed.

The charges against opposition leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom include bribery and attempting to overthrow the government, his lawyer, Maumoon Hameed, said on Twitter. Gayoom was president from 1978 to 2008, when Maldives became a multiparty democracy, and is the half brother of the current president, under whose rule the archipelago has lost many of its democratic gains.

The 15-day emergency decree issued late on Monday gives the government sweeping powers to make arrests, search and seize property and restricts freedom of assembly, officials said.

Policemen arrest former Maldives president and opposition leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom early on Tuesday. Credit:AP

Soon after the declaration, security forces stormed into the Supreme Court building, where Chief Justice Abdulla Saeed and judge Ali Hamid were arrested. The charges against them have not been specified. The whereabouts of the court's other two judges were not known on Tuesday morning.