MALE (Reuters) - Maldives police arrested former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom on Monday, his spokesman Abdul Aleem told Reuters, hours after President Abdulla Yameen declared a state of emergency for 15 days, in an escalation of a legal battle with the archipelago’s top court.

Gayoom, who is Yameen’s half-brother and ruled the country for 30 years until 2008, was arrested at his residence, along with his son-in-law. Yameen has defied a Supreme Court ruling ordering jailed opposition leaders to be freed, including Gayoom’s son Farish, an opposition lawmaker.