Mohamed Nasheed (; born 17 May 1967), also known as Anni (), is a Maldivian politician and activist who served as the fourth president of the Maldives from 2008 until his controversial resignation in 2012. A founding member of the Maldivian Democratic Party, he subsequently served as the 19th speaker of the People's Majlis from 2019 until his resignation in 2023. He is the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and the only president to resign from office.
Born in Malé, Nasheed was educated overseas before returning to the Maldives and becoming involved in political activism. He was first elected to Parliament in 1999 but was later removed from office, and was arrested and imprisoned several times during his early career. His arrest in 2005 prompted civil unrest. In the first round of the 2008 presidential election, he won 25% of the votes and later defeated incumbent President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
As the President, Nasheed played a role in drawing international attention to the threat of climate change to the Maldives. His government focused on anti-corruption measures, free healthcare, political and press freedom.
On 7 February 2012, Nasheed resigned amidst a political crisis. Protests by the opposition began after he allegedly ordered the arrest of Criminal Court Chief Judge Abdulla Mohamed. Nasheed characterised the circumstances of his resignation as a coup d'état. His successor, Mohamed Waheed Hassan, disputed this, saying the process was constitutional, which a Commission of National Inquiry confirmed.
Nasheed unsuccessfully ran for the presidency in 2013. In 2015, Nasheed was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act for ordering the arrest of Mohamed and sentenced to 13 years at Maafushi Prison. Nasheed was later granted asylum by the UK government in 2016 after he went there for medical treatment.
In November 2018, the Supreme Court overturned his conviction following Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's win in the 2018 presidential election. Nasheed returned to the Maldives and was elected to the parliament in 2019 for the Central Mahchangolhi constituency, subsequently taking office as the Speaker of the People's Majlis.
On 6 May 2021, an assassination attempt was carried out against Nasheed near his home. He sustained serious injuries after an IED bomb stuffed with bearing balls was detonated as he was getting into his car. He was treated in an intensive care unit in a German military hospital, after undergoing multiple emergency surgeries. Two were convicted for the attack.
Early life Mohamed Nasheed was born on 17 May 1967 in Malé, Maldives, to a middle-class family. He attended Majeediyya School in the Maldives from 1971 to 1981. He then studied at the Overseas School of Colombo in Sri Lanka from 1981 until 1982, where he moved to England and completed his secondary education at Dauntsey's School. Straight after his GCE A Levels, Nasheed moved north to Liverpool, where he spent the next three years reading maritime studies at Liverpool Polytechnic, before graduating in 1989.
Following his return to the Maldives in the late 1980s, he founded the Sangu magazine, which published a series of investigative reports about President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's regime. On 24 November 1990, Nasheed was arrested following an article he published in the political magazine Sangu about the corruption of the Maldivian government and the alleged government interference in the 1989 general election. He was taken to Dhoonidhoo detention centre, where he was held in solitary confinement for eighteen months. He stated that he was tortured while in detention, including being chained to a chair outside for twelve days and forced to eat food containing crushed glass. In 1991, Nasheed was designated as a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International.
He was sentenced on 8 April 1992 for three years over an alleged conspiracy to explode a device at a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) conference, which he denied. Additionally, he was sentenced to four months for talking to unauthorized people during his house arrest and six months for endangering the peace and stability of the country. He appealed his sentence in 1993 to the High Court before being rejected. However, he was later released from prison in Gamadhoo. Nasheed married Laila Ali Abdulla in 1994, and had two children, Meera Laila Nasheed, and Zaya Laila Nasheed.
Nasheed was re-arrested on 30 November 1994 and detained for eight days. He was charged with two offences under Sections 88A and 125 of the Maldives Penal Code following accusations that he spread false and derogatory information about the government. The charge was related to an article he published in a Philippine magazine where he criticised election procedures in the 1993 presidential election and the 1994 general election. His passport was confiscated by authorities. Nasheed was arrested in 1995 again on charges of contempt of court after he refused to leave court premises unless the judge issued him a passport to leave the country for a short trip abroad. He was sent to Dhoonidhoo detention centre before being transferred to Gaamadhoo Prison. Hearings in his trial were completed in May 1995. He was living under restriction until 1996 where he was sentenced to two years for sedition and defamation of the state. During his sixteen times in jail, he had miss the births of both his daughters and had spent significant amounts of time studying, producing three books on Maldivian history. Nasheed remarried in January 2024 to Yumna Rushdi.
Early political career During the 1999 general election, Nasheed was elected as the member of the People's Majlis representing Malé. However, he was stripped of his seat following a theft charge that the BBC described as politically motivated. Six months after Nasheed entered parliament, the government sentenced him to years exile to Angolhitheemu for taking "government property" from Velaanaage. He had sent an appeal to the High Court, which was denied in March 2002 and the conviction was upheld. He was officially expelled from the Majlis on grounds that he had been absent for more than six months. Nasheed was transferred to house arrest in June and was released in August but denied his seat in the Majlis. In 2005, the Dhivehi Observer published a leaked 2001 letter from Public Works minister Umar Zahir to Defence minister Anbaree Abdul Sattar, confirming that Nasheed had only taken some old files, considered for disposal by the government.
In November 2003, Nasheed left the Maldives and helped to establish the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) along with Mohamed Latheef, in self-exile, in Sri Lanka. He moved to the UK in 2004 and was recognised as a political refugee in April 2004 and given indefinite leave to remain there. On 30 April 2005, he ended his self-imposed exile and returned to Malé.
On 12 August 2005, Nasheed was arrested after he was sitting in the centre of the Republic Square along with supporters of the MDP, to mark the anniversary of Black Friday, a crackdown by the NSS on a nonviolent protest with one of the goals of Black Friday being the resignation of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. Nasheed's arrest ignited civil unrest in Malé, Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll, and Addu Atoll. Nasheed was taken to Dhoonidhoo Detention Centre and according to eyewitnesses he was beaten badly. After Nasheed was arrested, acting government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef stated in an interview to Reuters that Nasheed was not arrested and that he would be released soon. On 22 August, Nasheed was charged with terrorism and sedition for "inciting violence against the president" in a speech made in July.
Presidency 2008 presidential election
In the 2008 presidential election, Nasheed ran for the post of president on an MDP ticket, with Mohamed Waheed Hassan from Gaumee Itthihaad as the vice presidential candidate; this was the first time the country had held a multiparty presidential election by popular vote. Nasheed's campaign focused on political freedom and rooting out corruption under the Gayoom administration. He had also promised greater media freedom and increasing democracy in the country. In the first round, Nasheed and Hassan placed second with 44,293 votes (24.91%), behind President Gayoom of the governing Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), who received 71,731 votes (40.34%).
In the second round of elections, Nasheed and Hassan were backed by the unsuccessful first round of candidates. They won with 54.25% of the vote against 45.75% for Gayoom. Following the election, Nasheed and Hassan were sworn in as the President and Vice President of the Maldives on 11 November 2008, in a special session of the People's Majlis at Dharubaaruge.
Cabinet President Nasheed's first cabinet included fourteen ministers. Some posts in the cabinet were given to politicians from the "Watan Edhey" coalition, which included the MDP, the Adhaalath Party (AP), and the Jumhooree Party (JP). President Nasheed established the first ever Islamic Ministry in the Maldives, with a cabinet post representing it.
Within four months of the first cabinet being formed, President of the JP, Qasim Ibrahim resigned as the Home Minister which was subsequently followed by the dismissal of the President of the Dhivehi Qaumee Party, Hassan Saeed, who withdrew support of the government alleging the MDP of irresponsible behaviour and not consulting its allies. Later the remaining main party in the coalition, the AP cut ties with the ruling MDP, after a resolution was passed by the party to annul the agreement, following criticism of the government's handling on various issues, such as normalising relations with Israel, corruption within the government, and regulations permitting sale of alcohol to non-muslims on inhabited islands. By the end of the first year of his presidency, President Nasheed's cabinet contained only ministers from his own party and Vice President Hassan's Gaumee Itthihaad.
Policies
With regard to the threat posed to the very low-lying islands by changes in sea level caused by global warming, in March 2009 Nasheed pledged to set an example by making the Maldives carbon-neutral within a decade by moving to wind and solar power. He argued that the cost of the change would be no higher than what the Maldives already spends on energy. As of 2024, renewable energy accounts for 6% of total electricity generation in the country. As part of a wider campaign by international environmental NGO 350.org's campaign publicising the threats of climate change and its effects on the Maldives, Nasheed presided over the world's first underwater cabinet meeting on 17 October 2009, off the island of Girifushi with the meeting participants underwater in scuba diving gear. The following month, Nasheed founded the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an association of countries affected disproportionately by climate change.
Nasheed's other priorities were anti-corruption measures, government decentralization, and measures to increase freedom of expression and the press. His government introduced draft bills which guarenteed freedom of expression and the press, which remained under consideration by the Majlis. Nasheed's administration also started the Aasandha health insurance scheme. His government established the Maldives National University, pensions for the elderly, improved transportation among the islands, and social housing. His administration focused on reducing drug users, which saw a decline in the import of hard drugs along with two detoxification centres; reducing cost of living as inflation decreased in 2009 compared to the previous year; affordable housing, with the government planning to construct 10,000 housing units, along with providing clean water, sewerage and electricity.
Resignation