bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Reuters

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed is conscious after life-saving surgery, his family said on Saturday, as police made two arrests in connection with a blast they said was being treated as a terror attack.
The 53-year-old was critically injured after a bomb exploded as he left his family home in the capital Male on Thursday.
Police and prosecutors on Saturday said they had arrested two men linked to Islamic extremism in connection with the blast.
“From the people arrested so far and the information we have, there is a link to extremism,” Prosecutor General Hussain Shameem told reporters.
A third man is wanted in connection with the attack, he said, adding police believe several others were involved in planning and carrying out the bombing.
“I’m good,” Nasheed said after coming off life support, according to a tweet by his sister Nashida Sattar.
His brother, Ibrahim Nashid, said doctors were happy with Nasheed’s recovery.
“He is out of life support and breathing on his own,” he said in a tweet. “Managed to exchange a few words. Promised to come back stronger. I believe him.”
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih thanked Nasheed’s medical team and said he prayed for his “quick recovery and return – stronger and steadier than ever”.
Nasheed is a democracy pioneer in the Maldives who ended decades of one-party rule in the archipelago and became its first democratically elected president in 2008.
He is also known internationally as a champion for battling climate change and rising sea levels that he says threaten to submerge the nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands.

Nasheed was barred from contesting a 2018 presidential election because of a terrorism conviction after he was toppled in a military-backed coup in February 2012.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has declared the conviction politically motivated.
He returned from exile in Britain, however, and his party won legislative elections in 2019 and he is now parliament speaker, the country’s second most powerful post.
Why has India still not condemned the Myanmar coup?
On Thursday, Nasheed was walking to his car when the bomb rigged to a parked motorcycle went off, injuring him and two others.
There has been no claim of responsibility, but his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) officials alleged political interests may have been involved.
Nasheed had been vocal on the need to bring to justice some 72 suspects in a US$90 million theft case dating from the tenure of former strongman president Abdulla Yameen.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse


3 ways Hong Kong can keep the golden goose of ecotourism healthy

Trump’s Gaza deal forged by diplomacy blitz, lots of help from Arab and Muslim allies

China diver drifts for 40 minutes after being forgotten, Maldives hotel declines to apologise

Carina Lau’s best films, Jolly Roger’s evolution, Seoul Art Week: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Maldives

‘I’m good’, says ex-Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed after surviving assassination attempt

Police secure a site after a suspected bomb blast injured former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: Maldives former President Mohamed Nasheed leaves a private apartment in Sri Lanka to return in his country, after living in exile between London and Colombo for over two and a half years, Colombo, Sri Lanka November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte/File Photo

Coronavirus: Maldives welcomes rich Indians, Bollywood stars even as others ban flights amid brutal second wave

Indians remained the largest single group of visitors to the Maldives this year. File photo: Getty Images

Beijing rubbishes fears that Maldives is ‘mired in a Chinese debt trap’

Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, second right, speaks with Maldives' Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid during a meeting at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. (Andrea Verdelli/Pool Photo via AP)

News

Asia

South Asia


The 53-year-old is conscious after life-saving surgery, his family says
Police arrested two men linked to Islamic extremism in connection with the bomb blast that left Nasheed critically injured



The 53-year-old is conscious after life-saving surgery, his family says.


Crime