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Recent Appearances...

India-Pakistan

Maldives Steps Up Hunt for Suspects after Bomb Attack on Nasheed

2021-05-09

[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

#Maldives Steps Up Hunt for Suspects after Bomb Attack on Nasheed https://t.co/RR5R3MScae
— Asharq Al-Awsat English (@aawsat_eng) May 8, 2021

There was no claim of responsibility for Thursday's bomb attack, but officials close to Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said they suspected vested political interests opposed to his anti-corruption drive.

Nasheed has vowed to investigate a $90-million theft from the state's tourism promotion authority during the tenure of former president Abdulla Yameen.

Al Ahram adds:

A top official in the Maldives said Saturday that Islamic faceless myrmidons were responsible for a kaboom earlier this week that critically maimed former President Mohammed Nasheed, as police said they arrested two of four suspects.

Hospital officials said Saturday that Nasheed is conscious and no longer needs breathing support. Two of his bodyguards and two apparent bystanders, including a British citizen, were also maimed in Thursday's blast.

Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem told news hounds that Sherlocks still do not know which bully boy group was behind the attack, which left Nasheed, 53, at death's door in an intensive care unit after life-saving surgeries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs. No group has grabbed credit.

Nasheed, the current Parliament speaker, has been an outspoken critic of religious extremism in the predominantly Sunni Moslem nation, where preaching and practicing other faiths are banned by law. He has also been criticized by religious hard-liners for his closeness to the west and liberal policies.

Police announced Saturday that two men were arrested in connection with the attack, and released photos of two others seeking public assistance in identifying them.

Authorities say a homemade bomb contained ball bearings was attached to a cycle of violence

parked near Nasheed's car. The device exploded, possibly with the use of a remote control, as he was about to leave home for an event.

The Maldives has one of the highest per capita numbers of turbans who fought in Syria and Iraq alongside the Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
group.

Authorities announced in January that eight people arrested in November were found to have been planning to attack a school and were in the process of building bombs in a boat at sea. Police said the suspects conducted military training on uninhabited islands and recruited children.

Link

India-Pakistan

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed hurt in blast outside home

2021-05-07

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed was injured in a blast outside his home on Thursday, local media reported.

Images from state TV channel PSM showed security services securing the scene of the incident in the capital Male. A foreign tourist was also injured, the channel reported.

A spokesman for Nasheed’s Maldivian Democratic Party did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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India-Pakistan

Maldives ex-president elected parliament speaker

2019-05-31

[DAWN] The Maldives’ parliament has overwhelmingly voted the country’s first democratically-elected president as the speaker of the house. Mohammed Nasheed received 67 votes from among 87 members. His rival received 17 votes past midnight on Tuesday.

The speaker also has a role in the Judicial Services Commission that regulates the Supreme Court, and is third in line should the positions of the president and vice president become vacant.

President Ibrahim Mohammed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party has swept the parliamentary elections, winning 65 out of 87 seats. Last year, Solih defeated strongman Yameen Abdul Gayoom in the presidential vote.

The elections paved the way for Nasheed’s return home after years in exile. Nasheed, a former pro-democracy activist was elected president of the Indian Ocean archipelago in 2008, ending a 30-year autocratic government. He resigned in 2012 amid public upheaval over his decision to arrest a senior judge.

He lost the 2013 presidential election to Yameen, and was later locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
over the judge’s arrest following a trial criticised for due process violations.

Link

India-Pakistan

Lawyer for Maldives' ex-president stabbed in Male

2015-09-06

[ARABNEWS] A lawyer for the Maldives' tossed in the slammer
Please don't kill me!
former president was stabbed in the islands' capital ahead of a visit by his international legal team, including leading human rights
...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions...
activist Amal Clooney, his party said Saturday.

Lawyer Mahfooz Saeed underwent emergency surgery and was in a stable condition following the attack Friday evening in Male, ex-leader Mohammed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said.

"There were many people who saw the incident. The attackers were also caught on CCTV cameras," Shauna Aminath, a spokeswoman for the MDP, of which Saeed is also a member, told AFP.

The party believes the attack was politically motivated, she said.

~~Amnesia~~ Amnesty International condemned the assault and called on the Maldivian government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

"This vicious attack must not go unpunished -- Maldives authorities must ensure that human rights defenders can work free from fear of reprisals and that those responsible are held to account," the human rights group said in a statement.

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

Link

India-Pakistan

Maldives court denies bail, legal access to former president

2015-02-24

[Iran Press TV] Former Maldivian president Mohammed Nasheed has been refused bail by a court a day after he was placed in durance vile
I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece!
on terrorism charges.

A court on Monday refused to grant bail to Nasheed allegedly due to an attempt by him in 2013 to seek refuge in the Indian embassy in the capital, Malé.

Police used force to drag Nasheed into the court which, according to reports, caused him minor injury.

A front man for Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) said the court has ordered the opposition leader to remain under police custody.

Shauna Aminath described the charges against Nasheed as politically motivated and a ploy to shut down protests ahead of a planned demonstration against the government of President Abdulla Yameen on Friday.

Nasheed's top legal adviser also deplored the government's decision to deny Nasheed any legal access.

"The conduct of the courts, police and President Yameen's administration has been reprehensible," said Hissan Hussein.

Link

India-Pakistan

Oppn concedes defeat in Maldives

2014-03-27

[The Peninsula] The main opposition party in the Maldives yesterday accused authorities of undermining the latest parliamentary elections, but conceded defeat after a bitterly-fought campaign. The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had criticised the Supreme Court's sacking of the elections chief and his deputy just before Saturday's election, but nevertheless decided to face the polls.

"How can we call this a free vote when the Supreme Court sacks the chief elections commissioner and his deputy two weeks before the election?" MDP front man Hamid Abdul Ghafoor said. "But, we concede defeat."

The commission's top two have yet to be replaced and President Abdulla Yameen himself raised doubts on Thursday if the election could be held by a depleted panel of three.

Link

India-Pakistan

Maldives election: Abdulla Yameen wins run-off vote

2013-11-17

[BBC.CO.UK] Abdulla Yameen has won the presidential election run-off vote in the Maldives, officials say.

Mr Yameen secured 51.3% of the vote, compared with 48.6% for ex-President Mohammed Nasheed, the Election Commission said.

Mr Nasheed had won 47% in the first round this month, just short of the 50% needed for outright victory, in an election process mired in controversy.

He has accepted defeat, saying he supported the democratic process.

He had been seeking to regain power after he was forced to resign in 2012.

Mr Yameen, the half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom - who ruled the nation for 30 years - will be sworn in on Sunday.

Mr Nasheed, of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said: "I graciously accept defeat. We lost by a very small margin. Democracy is a process. It is up to us to make it work."

He added: "The MDP has always asked for a government elected by the people. Today is a happy day for the Maldives - we now have an elected government."

Link

India-Pakistan

Nasheed Tops Maldives Vote, Faces Shaky Run-Off

2013-11-10

[An Nahar] Opposition leader Mohammed Nasheed topped Saturday's bitterly-fought presidential elections, but failed to secure a clear majority needed to avoid a tricky run-off, official results showed.

Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) immediately pressed for a quick second round of voting on Sunday as previously scheduled as his main challenger Abdulla Yameen asked for a postponement.

The MDP urged the international community to mount pressure on Maldivian authorities to stick to the ballot timetable and ensure an elected president is sworn in by the constitutional deadline of Monday.

"The international community must apply pressure -- including targeted, punitive sanctions -- on those individuals who seek to undermine Maldivian democracy," the party said in a statement.

Yameen told news hounds that he was not ready to face a run-off Sunday and wanted at least 48 hours to prepare.

"I am not ready to accept the voter lists and we need at least 48 hours to approve them," Yameen said. "A run-off election can be after that."

Chief Elections Commissioner Fuwad Thowfeek had announced the run-off for Sunday. However,
it was a brave man who first ate an oyster...
it was not immediately clear if he could go ahead as a previous election was scuttled because Yameen and Saturday's loser Qasim Ibrahim refused to approve voter lists, a legal requirement in the Maldives.

Nasheed received just under 46 percent of the popular vote and faces Yameen, the half brother of former autocrat, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who garnered 31 percent of the vote. Ibrahim, a resort tycoon, came last with 24 percent and was thrown out of the run-off.

The MDP argues that unless an election is held Sunday, the country could head for a constitutional crisis without a leader, but the Supreme Court Saturday ruled that outgoing President Mohammed Waheed can remain as a caretaker.

Nasheed, who was ousted as president nearly two years ago in what he called a coup, sought to win an outright majority Saturday, but just managed to retain the same level of support he had at the now annulled September 7 polls.

The latest election was observed by more than 2,000 local and foreign monitors across the archipelago of 1,192 tiny coral islands and they did not report any electoral malpractice.

The Maldives, whose turquoise seas and white beaches have long been a tourist draw, has been the focus of intense U.S.-led diplomatic pressure since judges annulled results of the September 7 vote which was also won by Nasheed.

When new polls were scuppered six weeks later, suspicions grew that authorities were determined to prevent Nasheed from returning to power at any price.

The 46-year-old -- a one-time political prisoner and environmental activist -- won the first multi-party elections in 2008, ending 30 years of iron-fisted rule by Gayoom.

But after clashing with key institutions, including the judiciary and security forces, he was forced to resign in February 2012.

Yameen's Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) accused unidentified attackers of trying to Molotov cocktail his house Friday night, but said the attempt failed because of rain.

PPM leader and Youth Minister Mohammed Shareef predicted legal challenges regardless of who won the election.

"Given the high stakes involved, irrespective of who wins, there'll be a lot of anger, frustration and finger pointing," Shareef said. "I hope it won't lead to violence."

A host of Western diplomats had flown in to seek to ensure no hitches in the vote in a nation of 350,000 Sunni Moslems.

During his rule, Gayoom packed the judiciary and security forces with supporters, and there are suspicions that even if Nasheed wins, he could still be thwarted.

"I still have doubts he will be allowed to take power," a European diplomat told Agence La Belle France Presse before the results were known.

Link

India-Pakistan

Maldives Supreme Court Annuls Presidential Vote

2013-10-08

[An Nahar] The Maldives Supreme Court Monday annulled the results of last month's presidential elections, in a move likely to deepen international concern amid high tensions on the troubled Indian Ocean archipelago.

The court annulled the first round of voting, which was held on September 7 and won by former leader Mohammed Nasheed, and ordered a fresh ballot.

"The court in a majority decision of 4-3 annulled the elections and ordered fresh elections on October 20," a court official told news hounds after the long-awaited judgement.

The court ordered that a run-off election should be held before November 4 so that the new leader could take office by the constitutionally mandated November 11 deadline, the official said.

The vote was seen as a key test a year and a half after the violent ousting of Nasheed, the Maldives' first democratically elected president, who came to power in 2008.

Local and international observer groups found the first round of voting to be free and fair.

But the court suspended the run-off election while it heard a petition into allegations of electoral fraud made by a defeated candidate, businessman Qasim Ibrahim, who demanded that the results be annulled.

Nasheed of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) had won the first round with 45.45 percent of the vote, but not the minimum required 50 percent to win outright.

His Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has been critical of the court and there had been occasionally violent protest since the run-off was suspended on September 23, but there was no immediate sign of fresh protests after Monday's decision.

There had been growing international concern over the hold up of the run-off elections with the U.N. leading calls for an early resolution of the political deadlock.

Hours before Monday's ruling, six masked men set fire to a private television network that supports Nasheed's campaign.

Link

India-Pakistan

Maldives leader Nasheed held

2013-03-06

[Bangla Daily Star] Police in the Maldives enjugged
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed yesterday, defying pressure from regional power India which had called for him to be free to campaign for elections.

A spokeswoman for Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party, Shauna Aminath, said that about 20 masked coppers wearing riot gear locked away
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
him at his family home in the capital Male.

She said that no arrest warrant was presented to the former pro-democracy activist, who served as the first freely elected president until last year, and that one of his security personnel was injured in a fracas.

Maldivian authorities said that the 45-year-old had been taken into custody on a court order and was to be presented in a magistrates' court today where he faces criminal charges.

A court officer who declined to be named said the case against Nasheed -- who has been charged with abusing his powers by ordering the arrest of a judge while president -- would be taken up at 04:00pm today.

The move threatens to bring more instability to the archipelago, a famous upmarket honeymoon destination which sits astride strategic shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean.

It has been wracked by violence and political infighting since February 2012 when Nasheed was ousted following a mutiny by security forces and demonstrations which he believes were fomented by former autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The current government and Gayoom deny the accusations.

Seeking to avoid arrest, Nasheed took refuge in the Indian high commission (embassy) last month for 10 days and walked out only after an informal agreement was brokered by New Delhi under which he would be free to campaign.

Presidential elections are due on September 7.

A conviction would bar him from holding office and his party considers the charges against him to be politically motivated.

Link

India-Pakistan

US condemns attacks on journalists

2013-02-25

The US Sunday condemned the attacks on Maldivian journalists after three of them were attacked in capital Male. The US embassy here urged Maldivians to refrain from violence, and asked protesters and police to respect the right of all media outlets who cover demonstrations or other public events, reported Xinhua.

There, that's handled. Tea?

'Freedom of expression is a fundamental democratic right, and we strongly condemn these attacks,' the embassy said.

Three journalists were attacked in Male Friday night. One of them is said to be in critical condition, the Maldivian Journalists Association said.

Raajje TV journalist Ibrahim Waheed was attacked near 'Artificial Beach' with an iron rod by an unidentified man. He received serious head injuries and was flown to Sri Lanka Saturday for urgent medical treatment, officials said.

Meanwhile, Maldives media reported that during an opposition Maldivian Democratic Party protest Friday, two state television journalists were injured when a packet filled with paint thinner was thrown at them from the crowd. Both suffered serious body and facial injuries.

President Mohammed Hassan Waheed has condemned the attacks.

Former Maldivian president Mohammed Nasheed, who left the Indian High Commission Saturday after seeking asylum inside the premises for 11 days, also condemned the attacks. He called upon authorities to conduct a 'swift and thorough investigation' to bring the perpetrators to justice, regardless of their political affiliation.

So all the pols are in favor of bringing the perps to justice, but no one knows who the perps are or whose side the perps are on...

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India-Pakistan

Maldives President Expands Cabinet as Predecessor Rejects Compromise

2012-02-13

[An Nahar] The Maldives' new president expanded his Cabinet on Sunday to strengthen the coalition government that has ruled the Indian Ocean nation since the former leader's resignation last week sparked a political crisis.

Six members from four political parties were sworn in as ministers in the government led by President Mohammed Waheed Hassan.

In a speech after the swearing-in ceremony, Hassan said his government would carry forward the programs initiated by the previous government.

"That is what we have to do to recover from the problems we've had in the last couple of weeks," Hassan said.

His government would work to create a conducive environment in which free and fair elections could be held, Hassan said.

New ministers for health, education, economic development, transport, youth affairs and sports and tourism took the oath of office in a short ceremony at the president's office in the capital, Male.

A new Attorney General for the island nation was also sworn in. Hassan had appointed ministers for defense and home affairs earlier in the week.

Presidential Spokesman Masood Imad said some slots in the Cabinet were being kept open in case former President Mohamed Nasheed's Maldivian Democratic Party changed its mind about joining the coalition government.

But Nasheed rejected a U.S. call for compromise and dismissed proposals for a unity government to end political unrest.

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