Mohamed Nasheed on the Maldives Crisis
Written by: Ali Assad
On March 22, President Abdulla Yameen lifted a state of emergency in the Maldives, after the failed coup orchestrated by the opposition. The main coup conspirators are Nasheed, Qasim and Maumoon. Yameen had declared the emergency on February 5, after the Maldives’ Supreme Court suspiciously ordered the release of selected powerfully rich criminals. In the same order they had ruled that 12 MP’s who had sold their seats and transferred to other political parties will also not lose their seats in parliament. The most astonishing part of the ruling was a direct attack on democracy, the Supreme Court had annulled the power of the Judicial Service Commission, who have the authority to look into any complaint against Judges. Rather than obliging, Yameen took calculated well-timed maneuvers to legally foil the coup, by having two of the Supreme Court judges, suspected of taking bribes arrested within the constitutional boundaries, under a SOE. President Yameen proved to be a leader that does not differentiate between family or friends, when it comes to matters of law. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Yameen’s half-brother, was also arrested in connection with the failed coup, proving nobody is above the law in Yameen’s presidency.
Another voice speaking out against President Yameen has been former failed president, Mohamed Nasheed, currently a fugitive and in exile in Sri Lanka. Nasheed resigned in 2012, but later claimed coup, which led to his followers destroy public property worth millions in arson attacks on government buildings. An independent investigation under UN supervision revealed that Nasheed resigned without duress. He later acknowledged that it was a resignation. Even after the 1st February 2018 foiled Judicial Coup attempt, in a recorded speech sent to his followers, he mentions that he resigned on 7th February 2012. He was sentenced for kidnapping a serving judge during his regime, to over a decade in prison before being allowed to seek medical treatment in the UK, from where he fled and since then, he has lived abroad as a fugitive, most recently in Sri Lanka.
This article is of an “interview with Nasheed”, written in Maldives, Addu, Hithadhoo City and has been modified and edited to correct false claims and include real facts.
The following questions by Aaquib Khan, a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, India are suspiciously, very well pre-planned and drafted to convey a paid message.
We have amended the answers to this choreographed interview and changed it to illustrate the truth and the actual ground realities of the situation.
What I find interesting is that when I talk to people surrounding you, they refer to you as “President Nasheed.” If I talk to the ruling party in the Maldives, they say you are a criminal. If I ask you, “Who are you?” what would you say? President? Or criminal?
Mohammad Nasheed: I was from a filthy rich family so I studied abroad in a university in Liverpool, I came back to the Maldives. About late 1999 I also got married and started a family. We started a political party in exile in Sri Lanka, and then we were chased out from Sri Lanka in 2004 and then we started working from a little town in England with the help of Benedict Rogers and David Hardingham. Then finally we had elections and I was fortunate to have won those elections with help of former MDP founder member Fuad, who happened to be the Election Commissioner at that time and my brother-in-law (Saabe) as member of Election Commission. That’s how I became a president. Of course, there are people who do not like me and there are people who are working with me and trying their best to make the country less Islamic and bring a full Western democracy.
I can’t go to jail, and I should flee. The jail sentence is too high. I do not want to see a situation where my daughters see me in jail for a self-confessed convicted kidnapping of a serving judge. I preached about democracy and human rights, but when in power I practiced ill treatment and human rights abuses and autocratic rule in the Maldives. That has hampered our development, our livelihood, the way we want to live.
I come from a family background where my father has been in prison, my grandfather was in prison, my great-grandfather was in prison, because of different kinds of coups against the leaders of this country. It has to be continued, I guess.
Of course, I am a president and also a criminal with a criminal heritage.
Would you say for the people living in the Maldives, the Maldives is not good place to be in?
Mohamed Nasheed: To a very vast majority of people, life is good and hopeful now. They had a fake glimpse of freedom and democracy, when we were trying to force democracy in the Maldives. But right now, the general public knows that I was just another dictator craving for power. We have receded and our support base has dwindled to a handful and we have almost lost hope. We always try to win against the odds. I believe we can win again with the help of the West.
The Maldives is a holiday destination. Tourists go there and spend a wonderful time, but if I am to gain power again, we need to try and boycott tourism.
I can’t see why every single European holidaymaker can’t be an activist. I really fail to understand, why? So, my call is they all should be activists on their holiday. Every tourist should protest and destroy the peace and stability of Maldives. This would hamper the developments taking place, hence maybe create a ray of hope for me to grasp power.
How can they protest?
Mohamed Nasheed: A billboard, a T-shirt. And I would seriously encourage for goodness sake they must do it. They must be coming to the Maldives with T-shirts blaring and saying that President Yameen should go, that I should be president. I would love for them to have a photo of me.
What is the deadline for the current government in the Maldives?
Mohamed Nasheed: President Yameen dose things within the boundaries of the law. I wish I had the intellectual capacity to do the same when I was the President. As I previously already stated in a speech, I tried to swim outside the constitutional boundaries that was one of my biggest mistakes. So, my deadline for President Yameen is the day he swore as president.
Why would they split from Yameen? Why not cling on to him, because they profit off him?
Mohamed Nasheed: There is a deep state within the state of the Maldives. It is very very deep. What I have so far been describing, what I see in my dreams. I hallucinate about deep state. After I grabbed power in 2008. I did everything in my power to create a religious divide. Make sure that extremist versions of Islam flooded in the name of religious freedom. So, my fantasy of ISIS deep state is created. Because our population is only 4 lakhs and if only a handful of recruits could be brainwashed to join ISIS, I will be able to joyously claim that ISIS has been able to recruit the highest number of people per capita from the Maldives than any other country. Actually the idea is to allow other religions in Maldives with the help of the West. Without the pretext of Islamic extremism, it will be difficult to allow Western influence. This is actually what I meant by alternative narrative in Denmark some years ago.
You were talking about ISIS in Maldives. But you were in alliance with the Adaalath Party, which is a fundamentalist party.
Mohamed Nasheed: Before I labeled Wahhabism as extreme, and now Wahhabism is more mainstream as we are in coalition with Adhaalath Party and the Salafists are the extreme. It’s shifting, depending on who we are in coalition with, and we would like to see how far we can fool them.
I think we must understand we are not of the same ideology, in most areas we depart, but I think for this period in time we must work together. Like before as soon as I get reinstated as president we can throw these radicals in the dustbin. For the time being we will call them good extremists.
What’s your role now? You said you would be going back but at the moment you would face clearly jail.
Mohamed Nasheed: I don’t know if I would be taken to prison because Western powers want me in power but apparently, I do have a prison sentence on me for kidnapping a judge, which is a crime unfortunately I have confessed on camera, multiple times. It has taken so many twist and turns. But seriously I can’t see why President Yameen should not arrest me if I go back home.
I would argue the other way: there is no way that he wouldn’t if he follows the constitution.
I am not going to have a fistfight with him. I am not that strong physically, you know with my alcohol and drug abuse problems. I think President Yameen should take bribes from us like the Supreme Court judges and give me the president position.
President Gayoom was an autocratic leader who imprisoned you and other people. Now he is coming to your side. To me that’s very strange. How do you see that?
Mohamed Nasheed: We are like Tom & Jerry. President Gayoom, wants his son Faris in power. I want to be president forever. So, what is stopping us is President Yameen. This is just a temporary truce.
I think we have parliamentary majority if the bribed parliamentarians keep their words, and we had won the local council elections majority in the last local council elections. But the thing is local council elections does not give any predictions over the presidential elections.
You have a majority now in the parliament, you won local elections, and you think you shouldn’t be put in prison if you go back. So why you are not going?
Mohamed Nasheed: I think my party is not completely allowing me to do that yet. There are some candidates in my party that I need to get rid of like before. I want to make sure that things are in place for only me to participate from my party. The UN Human Rights Committee decision actually calls on my party to accept me as their presidential candidate without any primary. And also, I have my daughter’s O level exams in May, and I promised her that I’ll be around until she does her exams.
So, we can say that until May you are not going?
Mohamed Nasheed: I’ll stick around. Unless we have funding for another coup.
You are committed to go back?
Mohamed Nasheed: I will go back. I can’t live my rest of life as a fugitive in exile. I’ll go back when they cancel my prison sentence or I will be forced to go back if Western friends stop funding me.
While Mr. Yameen is still in power, or would you wait for his departure?
Mohamed Nasheed: There are two views to this. One, President Yameen must go and then I should be nominated as president. And the other view is he should stay but I should be nominated as president.
Now my view is that he must be able to seek re-election, be part of the next elections. Everyone is relevant as long as I can compete and get elected, if elections have to be ruled fair.
So, you would be positive about Mr. Yameen running in the next elections, if you were allowed to as well.
Mohamed Nasheed: I would like to beat him badly like he beat me in 2013. But I should be allowed to nominate Fuad and some of my colleagues to Election Commission before the election.
You think you would?
Mohamed Nasheed: Absolutely would beat him if I can get the Election Commission nominations with the help of International Community and also Maumoon and Qasim.
Is it for legitimacy purposes?
Mohamed Nasheed: No, I just want power.
Aaquib Khan is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, India. Follow him on Twitter: @kaqibb &
GaumeeVindhu is a group of young Maldivians working in spreading the voice of the people of Maldives – pulse of the nation. Follow them on twitter: @GaumeeVindhu
On March 22, President Abdulla Yameen lifted a state of emergency in the Maldives, after the failed coup orchestrated by the opposition. The main coup conspirators are Nasheed, Qasim and Maumoon. Yameen had declared the emergency on February 5, after the Maldives’ Supreme Court suspiciously ordered the release of selected powerfully rich criminals. In the same order they had ruled that 12 MP’s who had sold their seats and transferred to other political parties will also not lose their seats in parliament. The most astonishing part of the ruling was a direct attack on democracy, the Supreme Court had annulled the power of the Judicial Service Commission, who have the authority to look into any complaint against Judges. Rather than obliging, Yameen took calculated well-timed maneuvers to legally foil the coup, by having two of the Supreme Court judges, suspected of taking bribes arrested within the constitutional boundaries, under a SOE. President Yameen proved to be a leader that does not differentiate between family or friends, when it comes to matters of law. Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Yameen’s half-brother, was also arrested in connection with the failed coup, proving nobody is above the law in Yameen’s presidency.
Another voice speaking out against President Yameen has been former failed president, Mohamed Nasheed, currently a fugitive and in exile in Sri Lanka. Nasheed resigned in 2012, but later claimed coup, which led to his followers destroy public property worth millions in arson attacks on government buildings. An independent investigation under UN supervision revealed that Nasheed resigned without duress. He later acknowledged that it was a resignation. Even after the 1st February 2018 foiled Judicial Coup attempt, in a recorded speech sent to his followers, he mentions that he resigned on 7th February 2012. He was sentenced for kidnapping a serving judge during his regime, to over a decade in prison before being allowed to seek medical treatment in the UK, from where he fled and since then, he has lived abroad as a fugitive, most recently in Sri Lanka.
This article is of an “interview with Nasheed”, written in Maldives, Addu, Hithadhoo City and has been modified and edited to correct false claims and include real facts.
The following questions by Aaquib Khan, a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, India are suspiciously, very well pre-planned and drafted to convey a paid message.
We have amended the answers to this choreographed interview and changed it to illustrate the truth and the actual ground realities of the situation.
What I find interesting is that when I talk to people surrounding you, they refer to you as “President Nasheed.” If I talk to the ruling party in the Maldives, they say you are a criminal. If I ask you, “Who are you?” what would you say? President? Or criminal?
Mohammad Nasheed: I was from a filthy rich family so I studied abroad in a university in Liverpool, I came back to the Maldives. About late 1999 I also got married and started a family. We started a political party in exile in Sri Lanka, and then we were chased out from Sri Lanka in 2004 and then we started working from a little town in England with the help of Benedict Rogers and David Hardingham. Then finally we had elections and I was fortunate to have won those elections with help of former MDP founder member Fuad, who happened to be the Election Commissioner at that time and my brother-in-law (Saabe) as member of Election Commission. That’s how I became a president. Of course, there are people who do not like me and there are people who are working with me and trying their best to make the country less Islamic and bring a full Western democracy.
I can’t go to jail, and I should flee. The jail sentence is too high. I do not want to see a situation where my daughters see me in jail for a self-confessed convicted kidnapping of a serving judge. I preached about democracy and human rights, but when in power I practiced ill treatment and human rights abuses and autocratic rule in the Maldives. That has hampered our development, our livelihood, the way we want to live.
I come from a family background where my father has been in prison, my grandfather was in prison, my great-grandfather was in prison, because of different kinds of coups against the leaders of this country. It has to be continued, I guess.
Of course, I am a president and also a criminal with a criminal heritage.
Would you say for the people living in the Maldives, the Maldives is not good place to be in?
Mohamed Nasheed: To a very vast majority of people, life is good and hopeful now. They had a fake glimpse of freedom and democracy, when we were trying to force democracy in the Maldives. But right now, the general public knows that I was just another dictator craving for power. We have receded and our support base has dwindled to a handful and we have almost lost hope. We always try to win against the odds. I believe we can win again with the help of the West.
The Maldives is a holiday destination. Tourists go there and spend a wonderful time, but if I am to gain power again, we need to try and boycott tourism.
I can’t see why every single European holidaymaker can’t be an activist. I really fail to understand, why? So, my call is they all should be activists on their holiday. Every tourist should protest and destroy the peace and stability of Maldives. This would hamper the developments taking place, hence maybe create a ray of hope for me to grasp power.
How can they protest?
Mohamed Nasheed: A billboard, a T-shirt. And I would seriously encourage for goodness sake they must do it. They must be coming to the Maldives with T-shirts blaring and saying that President Yameen should go, that I should be president. I would love for them to have a photo of me.
What is the deadline for the current government in the Maldives?
Mohamed Nasheed: President Yameen dose things within the boundaries of the law. I wish I had the intellectual capacity to do the same when I was the President. As I previously already stated in a speech, I tried to swim outside the constitutional boundaries that was one of my biggest mistakes. So, my deadline for President Yameen is the day he swore as president.
Why would they split from Yameen? Why not cling on to him, because they profit off him?
Mohamed Nasheed: There is a deep state within the state of the Maldives. It is very very deep. What I have so far been describing, what I see in my dreams. I hallucinate about deep state. After I grabbed power in 2008. I did everything in my power to create a religious divide. Make sure that extremist versions of Islam flooded in the name of religious freedom. So, my fantasy of ISIS deep state is created. Because our population is only 4 lakhs and if only a handful of recruits could be brainwashed to join ISIS, I will be able to joyously claim that ISIS has been able to recruit the highest number of people per capita from the Maldives than any other country. Actually the idea is to allow other religions in Maldives with the help of the West. Without the pretext of Islamic extremism, it will be difficult to allow Western influence. This is actually what I meant by alternative narrative in Denmark some years ago.
You were talking about ISIS in Maldives. But you were in alliance with the Adaalath Party, which is a fundamentalist party.
Mohamed Nasheed: Before I labeled Wahhabism as extreme, and now Wahhabism is more mainstream as we are in coalition with Adhaalath Party and the Salafists are the extreme. It’s shifting, depending on who we are in coalition with, and we would like to see how far we can fool them.
I think we must understand we are not of the same ideology, in most areas we depart, but I think for this period in time we must work together. Like before as soon as I get reinstated as president we can throw these radicals in the dustbin. For the time being we will call them good extremists.
What’s your role now? You said you would be going back but at the moment you would face clearly jail.
Mohamed Nasheed: I don’t know if I would be taken to prison because Western powers want me in power but apparently, I do have a prison sentence on me for kidnapping a judge, which is a crime unfortunately I have confessed on camera, multiple times. It has taken so many twist and turns. But seriously I can’t see why President Yameen should not arrest me if I go back home.
I would argue the other way: there is no way that he wouldn’t if he follows the constitution.
I am not going to have a fistfight with him. I am not that strong physically, you know with my alcohol and drug abuse problems. I think President Yameen should take bribes from us like the Supreme Court judges and give me the president position.
President Gayoom was an autocratic leader who imprisoned you and other people. Now he is coming to your side. To me that’s very strange. How do you see that?
Mohamed Nasheed: We are like Tom & Jerry. President Gayoom, wants his son Faris in power. I want to be president forever. So, what is stopping us is President Yameen. This is just a temporary truce.
I think we have parliamentary majority if the bribed parliamentarians keep their words, and we had won the local council elections majority in the last local council elections. But the thing is local council elections does not give any predictions over the presidential elections.
You have a majority now in the parliament, you won local elections, and you think you shouldn’t be put in prison if you go back. So why you are not going?
Mohamed Nasheed: I think my party is not completely allowing me to do that yet. There are some candidates in my party that I need to get rid of like before. I want to make sure that things are in place for only me to participate from my party. The UN Human Rights Committee decision actually calls on my party to accept me as their presidential candidate without any primary. And also, I have my daughter’s O level exams in May, and I promised her that I’ll be around until she does her exams.
So, we can say that until May you are not going?
Mohamed Nasheed: I’ll stick around. Unless we have funding for another coup.
You are committed to go back?
Mohamed Nasheed: I will go back. I can’t live my rest of life as a fugitive in exile. I’ll go back when they cancel my prison sentence or I will be forced to go back if Western friends stop funding me.
While Mr. Yameen is still in power, or would you wait for his departure?
Mohamed Nasheed: There are two views to this. One, President Yameen must go and then I should be nominated as president. And the other view is he should stay but I should be nominated as president.
Now my view is that he must be able to seek re-election, be part of the next elections. Everyone is relevant as long as I can compete and get elected, if elections have to be ruled fair.
So, you would be positive about Mr. Yameen running in the next elections, if you were allowed to as well.
Mohamed Nasheed: I would like to beat him badly like he beat me in 2013. But I should be allowed to nominate Fuad and some of my colleagues to Election Commission before the election.
You think you would?
Mohamed Nasheed: Absolutely would beat him if I can get the Election Commission nominations with the help of International Community and also Maumoon and Qasim.
Is it for legitimacy purposes?
Mohamed Nasheed: No, I just want power.
Aaquib Khan is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, India. Follow him on Twitter: @kaqibb &
GaumeeVindhu is a group of young Maldivians working in spreading the voice of the people of Maldives – pulse of the nation. Follow them on twitter: @GaumeeVindhu
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