MALÉ, Maldives — A political crisis in the Maldives deepened early Tuesday morning after a former president and two justices of the Supreme Court were arrested.

The president, Abdulla Yameen, declared a state of emergency on Monday evening and sent troops to surround the Supreme Court, which had provoked his ire last week when it overturned criminal convictions against nine of the president’s opponents and ordered that those in jail be freed.

So far, Mr. Yameen has refused to release the political prisoners. And now it appears that he is escalating the standoff, which is worrying tourists, foreign governments and countless Maldivians.

The Maldives Independent, a news website, reported late Monday that special operations security officers had broken into the court, raising fears that the president’s forces were going to arrest the Supreme Court justices who had holed up in their offices. Several dozen protesters were also converging on the court, and witnesses said the police were trying to chase away the crowd.