Anni MALDIVES

Mohamed Nasheed or Anni (born May 17, 1967) is the current President of the Maldives. He is the founder of the Maldivian Democratic Party and was its presidential candidate in the October 2008 presidential election, defeating long-time President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in a second round of voting. He was sworn in as President on November 11, 2008.

Nasheed is commonly known in the Maldives as Anni[1] and is a former member of Parliament for Malé. He was an outspoken critic of Gayoom and his policies. Due to his criticism of the government, over the years he was arrested and sentenced several times.

1-Anni from historian to a investigative journalist.
2-Anni from Investigative journalist to a political writer & editor.
3-Anni from political writer & editor to a opposition parliamentarian.
4-Anni from opposition parliamentarian to a political prisoner.
5-Anni from political prisoner to a political activist.
6-Anni from political activist to a DEMOCRATIC activist.
7-Anni from Democratic activist to a self exile leader.
8-Anni from self exile leader to a an innovative democratic political party inventor.
9- Anni from innovative democratic political party inventor to a party chairperson.
10- Anni from party chairperson to party presidential candidate.
11-Anni from party presidential candidate to the president of republic of Maldives after 30 years of a brutal dictatorship.

Education

As a boy Mohamed Nasheed attended Majeediyya School in the Maldives, between 1971 and 1981. He continued his secondary school education overseas at the Overseas School of Colombo, from 1981 to 1982 until he completed his GCSE Ordinary Level Certificate. In August 1982 he moved to the United Kingdom where he completed his Higher Secondary Education at the Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire. Straight after his A'levels, Mohamed Nasheed moved north to Liverpool where he spent the next three years reading for a Bachelor of Arts in Maritime Studies at Liverpool's John Moores University.

1990-2003

He was made an Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience in 1991 when he was being held in prison for writing for the popular political magazine known as "Sangu". On April 8, 1992 he was sentenced to three years in prison for "withholding information". He was released in June 1993 and was re-arrested in 1994 and 1995. In 1996 he was sentenced to two years imprisonment for an article he had written.

In 2000, he was elected as a member of the parliament representing the people of Malé. Six months later, in 2001 he was tried and sentenced to two and half years banishment for the theft of unspecified "government property" from H. Velaanaage - the former residence of former president Ibrahim Nasir. Supporters of Nasheed believe that it was a fabricated charge against him motivated by political desires. This was later proved to be so, when Dhivehiobserver (of Ahmed Shafeeq Ibrahim Moosa) published a leaked letter, sent by then Minister of Construction and Public Works Umar Zahir to the former Minister of Defence (later the High Commissioner to Delhi) Anbaree Abdul Sattar. The letter, dated on October 31, 2001, was published on the website on October 10, 2005. According to this letter, Nasheed did take some files from the residence which were about to be destroyed as they were of no value to the government. According to Umar Zahir there was no restricted area for the public in the residence. In his letter Umar Zahir stated "Later that day I did check the storage place from which Mohamed Nasheed apparently took that material. There was nothing there that could be of use. There remained only old written materials and books. Those things have now been burned."

Maldivian Democratic party

In November 2003, Nasheed left the Maldives and joined Mohamed Latheef to help establish the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), in exile, in Sri Lanka and the UK. He was recognized as a political refugee by the British government in 2004. After about 18 months in self-proclaimed exile, Nasheed returned to Malé on April 30, 2005.

After returning to the Maldives he began promoting the MDP before it was officially recognized by the Government. With the decision to allow political parties in the Maldives, on June 2, 2005 and the official recognition of the MDP's existence, Nasheed accelerated his support campaigns for the party. He made several trips to the Atolls, and neighbouring countries on behalf of the party.

On August 12, 2005, Nasheed was arrested again when he was sitting in the center of the Republican Square, with supporters of MDP, to mark the second anniversary of the Black Friday. His arrest provoked civil unrest in Malé and some other Atolls. After his arrest, acting Government Spokesman Mohamed Hussain Shareef told reporters that Nasheed had been detained for "his own safety." However, on August 22, 2005, the state announced that Nasheed was to be charged with terrorism under the Terrorism Act.

2008 presidential election
Main article: Maldivian presidential election, 2008

Nasheed stood as the MDP Itthihaad's candidate together with Mohammed Waheed Hassan as the Vice Presidential Candidate in the October 2008 presidential election; this was the first time the country had held a multiparty presidential election by popular vote. In the first round, Nasheed and Dr. Waheed placed second with 44,293 votes (24.91%), placing second behind President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the governing Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP), who received 71,731 votes (40.34%). In the second round, Nasheed and Dr. Waheed were backed by the unsuccessful first round candidates and won 54.25% of the vote against 45.75% for Gayoom.

Following the election, Nasheed and Dr. Waheed also known as "Fili Waheed" were sworn in as the President and Vice President of the Maldives on November 11, 2008[2] in a special session of the People's Majlis at Dharubaaruge. [3][4]

Policies

With regard to the threat posed to the very low-lying islands by changes in sea level caused by climate change, in March 2009, President 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.[5]