President-elect Ibrahim Solih had wept the day former president Mohamed Nasheed was arrested, claims former Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) chairperson Ali Waheed has said.

Waheed, who recently returned to the Maldives from living in self-imposed exile, said this while speaking on president-elect Solih’s commitment to democratic reform in the Maldives and to the party.

“I remember coming to Raajje Television’s studio with Solih to speak on Nasheed’s arrest, he was disappointed to the point of tears, he wept”, Waheed said.

Waheed, a former parliamentarian as well, claimed that Solih, despite having been emotionally overwhelmed by the events of that day, encouraged supporters of the party to carry on with their reform work and has led activities in this regard since.

The former parliamentarian said that he has learned a great deal in his political career from both Nasheed and Solih, and that the former’s arrest was unanticipated and thus served to be a great challenge to the MDP.

Waheed said that Solih had played a key role in overcoming the difficulties the party has faced in the past years since the arrest.

Nasheed was arrested, tried, and found guilty of unlawfully abducting then Criminal Court chief judge Abdulla Mohamed. The proceedings that led to his conviction has been heavily criticized and the United Nations Human Rights Council has asked Maldivian authorities to quash it.