Mohamed Nasheed won the presidency in Maldives’s first multiparty elections in 2008, after a lifetime advocating democracy and human rights and several long stints in jail.
Less than three years later, he was forced to resign by an angry mob of police officers and soldiers, in what he says was a coup engineered by his autocratic predecessor.
“We have to have an election,” he said in an interview while visiting the Indian capital, New Delhi. “In the absence of that, Islamic radicals are gaining strength in the Maldives.”
The chain of 2,000 islands is best known for its plush resorts, its scuba diving and its reputation as an upmarket honeymoon destination. But away from the tourist atolls, adherence to Islam is compulsory, alcohol is banned, and the conservative Saudi Arabian strand of Islam known as Wahhabism has been expanding its reach for decades. Read on and comment » | Simon Denyer | Thursday, April 19, 2012
