The former president of the Maldives and current head of parliament, Mohamed Nasheed, was injured Thursday, May 6 by a bomb explosion in the capital Malé, an official source said.
The 53-year-old dignitary was about to get into his car when a bomb concealed on a motorcycle exploded, according to the same source.
"
Nasheed escaped an assassination attempt
,
" a
government official told AFP by telephone.
"He is injured, but in stable condition
.
"
The police cordoned off the area where the attack took place.
Read also: The Maldives, a paradisiacal archipelago plagued by radical Islam and corruption
A family member told AFP on condition of anonymity that the former president was suffering from several injuries. He clarified that Mohamed Nasheed was conscious and had communicated with the doctors when he was admitted to the hospital. One of his bodyguards was also hospitalized. Currently
“he is under anesthesia. He has a deep wound on one of his arms, ”
the source said. Police confirmed the former president was injured and hospitalized, but did not give further details.
An emergency session of Parliament was called following this attack.
With 330,000 inhabitants, Sunni Muslims, the Maldives are known as a luxury tourist destination but also for their constant political instability.
The explosion came shortly before the entry into force of a nighttime curfew planned in the capital as part of health restrictions to fight the Covid-19 epidemic.
Read also: Maldives, the hell of the decor
A former prisoner of conscience, Mohamed Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in the first multiparty poll in 2008. He was overthrown in a coup in 2012 and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2015 on terrorism charges , a verdict denounced by human rights organizations as politically motivated. Allowed to be released from prison for medical treatment, Mohamed Nasheed went into exile in the United Kingdom but returned to his country in 2018. He became Speaker of Parliament, the second highest post in the state hierarchy, after the 2019 elections.
