Mohamed Nasheed, Maldivian lawyer and politician 4th President of the Maldives
Mohamed Nasheed GCSK (Dhivehi: މުހައްމަދު ނަޝީދު; born 17 May 1967) is a Maldivian politician currently serving as the 19th speaker of the People's Majlis since May 2019. He also served as President of the Maldives from 2008 until his resignation in 2012. He is the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and the only president to resign from office. He is also credited as one of the founding members of the Maldivian Democratic Party In the first round of the 2008 presidential election, he won 25% of the votes and was later assigned as the candidate of the first opposition coalition defeating President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had governed the Maldives as president for 30 continuous years. Nasheed assumed office on 11 November 2008. Nasheed later worked with Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to defeat President Yameen in the 2018 presidential election.
On 7 February 2012, Nasheed resigned as president under disputed circumstances, following weeks of protests by the opposition after he had ordered the arrest of the Chief Judge of the Criminal Court, which had then ultimately been joined by a majority of police forces following their refusal to carry out orders they found unconstitutional. The next day, he stated that he had been forced to resign "at gunpoint" by police and army officers, and claimed that the protesters had joined with "powerful networks" of Gayoom loyalists to force his resignation in a coup d'état. His successor, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, a former long-time UN civil servant, denied these claims and stated that the transfer of power was voluntary and constitutional and created a Commission of National Inquiry to investigate Nasheed's claims. The Maldives' Commission of National Inquiry, overseen by the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Nations, and co-led by a retired Justice of Singapore's Supreme Court nominated by the Commonwealth of Nations, reported that there was no evidence to support Nasheed's version of events. Nasheed ran for the Presidency again in September through October 2013, and conceded defeat after narrowly losing the election. In March 2015, Nasheed was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Maldives for arresting Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed while president, and sentenced to 13 years at Maafushi Prison. Amnesty International has described the conviction as "politically motivated", and the United States Department of State expressed concern at "apparent lack of appropriate criminal procedures during the trial". In November 2018, the Supreme Court of the Maldives overturned his conviction.In 2016, he was given asylum in the United Kingdom, where he had gone for medical treatment. On 29 June 2018, he renounced his plans to contest the country's presidential elections, citing legal obstacles. He said the Election Commission's decision to reject his victory in a party primary poll was illegal and demanded that the authority be sanctioned. After his childhood best friend, relative, and party's candidate, Ibrahim Solih, won presidential elections in 2018, Nasheed returned to the Maldives, where he won the seat for Machangolhi Medhu constituency in parliamentary elections the following year with a total of 1054 votes, subsequently taking office as Speaker of parliament.
On 6 May 2021, an assassination attempt was made against Nasheed near his home while he was getting into his car. He sustained serious injuries and barely survived after an IED bomb that was stuffed with bearing balls as shrapnel was detonated near his home. He was treated in the intensive care unit, after undergoing multiple emergency surgeries. Maldives authorities alleged it to be a terrorist attack by religious "extremists". Three suspects were arrested. Australian Federal Police officers assisted with the investigation.