Ex-Maldivian President Nasheed's lawyer stabbed in Male

Male: A lawyer for jailed former Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed has been stabbed here in an attack by four masked men, ahead of a visit by his international legal team including human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

Opposition  Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) lawyer Mahfooz Saeed was stabbed in the head on Friday and is now out of danger after an emergency surgery at the state-run Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH).

Mahfooz, who is a member of former president Nasheed's legal team, was stabbed in the left side of his head while he was on his motorbike. The knife had missed his eye-socket by a few millimetres.

IGMH spokesperson Zeenath Ali Habeeb qas quoted as saying by Haveeru online that Mahfooz had undergone emergency surgery last evening.

"Doctors say the three-hour operation was very successful. Luckily he hasn't lost sight in his left eye," she said.

Opposition MDP alleged that Mahfooz was attacked by four masked men on motorbikes.

In a statement following the attack, MDP said the premeditated attack was intended to be fatal. In addition to being a member of Nasheed's legal team, Mahfooz had been targeted after he had represented a man who leads a special prayer for Nasheed every Friday and was taken into custody by police for questioning, the MDP statement said.

The attack came as London-based Clooney, whose actor George Clooney's wife, is due to travel to the Maldives next week to meet Nasheed.

She is part of Nasheed's high-profile legal team along with Jared Genser, who has represented Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, and Ben Emmerson, a judge on international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.

Nasheed last month was forcibly taken to jail by Maldivian police, a month after the former president's 13-year prison term was commuted to house arrest.

Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected leader who was arrested on February 22 over the detention of a judge in 2012, was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1990 in a criminal court hearing in March.

Immediately after the sentencing, Nasheed was incarcerated in a prison on a remote island.

His conviction drew widespread criticism over the apparent lack of due process in the 19-day trial. The fairness has been questioned by international governments, including India and the US, and rights organisations.

The former president was ousted in February, 2011 by a mutiny of security forces. He said he was forced to resign as a result of a coup.