Former Maldives president Nasheed flies to Germany for treatment after attack
Male, May 13 (EFE).- Former president of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed, who was seriously injured in an attack last week, was on Thursday flown to Germany to continue his recovery after being discharged from a hospital in Male.
“We have released (Ex-) President Nasheed from hospital today. As he travels overseas for rehabilitation and recovery the management and employees of the hospital wish him a quick return to full health,” the ADK hospital tweeted.
The leader’s brother, Nazim Abdul Sattar, told EFE that Nasheed had left for Germany to continue his treatment, and it wasn’t clear how many days he would have to stay there.
Images circulated on social media showed an ambulance surrounded by security forces leaving the hospital for the airport, and deputy speaker of parliament Eva Abdulla shared a video of the plane leaving the archipelago with the message “Godspeed!”
Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of Maldives and currently the speaker of the parliament, was targeted in a bomb blast in Male on May 6 while he was walking towards his car close to his house.
The ex-president was seriously injured and underwent 16 hours of surgery, during which doctors extracted ball bearings used in the bomb, one of which had been lodged very close to the heart..
Three bodyguards deployed in Nasheed’s security were also injured in the attack and have now been discharged, while no details are available about a British man who was wounded in the incident.
The Maldives police arrested three suspects over the weekend, including 25-years-old Ad’ham Ahmed Rasheed, accused of remotely triggering the bomb – attached to a motorcycle – as Nasheed approached his car. .
The investigation is still on and the police said they have evidence linking the attack with “extremism” without offering further details, amid speculation that the bombing may have been carried out by Islamists.
Although attack has not been claimed by any group, Nasheed has been a target for Islamist extremists in the past, who consider him an enemy of Islam for his liberal ideas.
In 2008, Nasheed became the first democratically elected leader of the chain of islands some 700 km (435 mi) southwest of India. Ousted in a coup four years later, he spent time behind bars and in exile before eventually making a triumphant return.
The leader spent a year in custody before being allowed to travel to London for medical care. Once in the United Kingdom, Nasheed successfully applied for political asylum.
When a colleague from his Maldivian Democratic Party won the 2018 presidential election, Nasheed returned to the archipelago and convinced a court to overturn his 2015 conviction, enabling him to be elected to Parliament in 2019. EFE
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