Maldives leader: Blast that hurt Nasheed attacked democracy

[TexasTowelie]

MALE, Maldives (AP) — The Maldives president said Friday an explosion that wounded former leader Mohamed Nasheed was an attack on the country’s democracy and economy and said Australian police would assist the investigation.

Nasheed, 53, was injured in the blast Thursday night outside his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital, Male, police said. Home Minister Imran Abdulla told a local television that Nasheed’s injuries were not life-threatening.

He is the current Parliament speaker and was the Maldives’ first democratically elected president, serving from 2008 to 2012.

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih said in a televised speech Friday that Australian Federal Police investigators will arrive in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation on Saturday.

Read more: https://baytobaynews.com/stories/maldives-leader-blast-that-hurt-nasheed-attacked-democracy,47358

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. He has been outspoken against Islamic State, which had relatively high recruitment from there

Mohamed Nasheed: Maldives ex-president in critical condition after bomb blast

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The Indian Ocean nation is known for its luxury holiday resorts, but has also faced political unrest and Islamist militant violence.

Mr Nasheed, 53, has been an outspoken critic of hardline Islamists.
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This Indian Ocean archipelago is an Islamic country where its residents follow Islamic traditions and beliefs. In some of the distant islands and atolls, some are conservative or even radicalised. The authorities blame foreign hard-line preachers for the radicalisation.

The Maldivian security agencies say dozens of jihadists from the Maldives went to Syria to fight on behalf of the Islamic State group and other extremist organisations. After the war ended in Syria, some of them returned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-57027873