Former President Mohamed Nasheed has returned to the Maldives after living in exile for nearly three years.

He landed at Velana International Airport on Thursday afternoon, along with wife Laila Ali.

Back in October Nasheed announced that he will be returning home on November 1, despite the 13-year sentence on him.

A number of people from across the nation arrived in the capital to welcome the former president.

He was convicted of terrorism in March 2015, after ‘a rushed’ and widely criticized trial that lasted less than three weeks, for ordering the arrest of a judge.

He went into exile during a medical trip to Britain in January 2016.

Since then, Nasheed has traveled to a number of countries and met with various international leaders and representatives including then UK Prime Minister David Cameron. He also spoke at various international forums, regarding the Maldives situation and President Abdulla Yameen’s tyrannical rule.

While his sentence still remains, Supreme Court earlier this week issued a stay order on enforcing it. Prior to that the Prosecutor General urged the court to review his case, while the parliament passed to urge the court to nullify the sentence.

A motion submitted to parliament noted that his conviction was politically motivated and violated international treaties the Maldives is party to.

Nasheed, jailed multiple times for his stance against the President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom’s authoritarian ways, was forced to live in exile previously as well; also under British protection.

After nearly two years in exile, he returned to the Maldives in April 2005 as Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)’s chairperson; the party was formed in exile in 2003. He was greeted by a number of MDP supporters.

He was arrested a number of times since then as well, and in 2008 he became the country’s first democratically elected president after beating Maumoon, who had remained in power for 30 years.

He resigned in 2012, in what he described as a coup. He said that he was forced to resign "at gunpoint", and that "powerful networks" of Gayoom loyalists had manipulated events to "strangle" Maldivian democracy.

Nasheed and his predecessor formed an alliance in 2017, and have since been leading the reform movement, along with Jumhooree Party’s Qasim Ibrahim and Adhaalath Party’s Sheikh Imran.