Cannot lay a finger on Nasheed now: Ex-parliament speaker

Abdulla Shahid, former parliament speaker, has on Wednesday said that the government cannot even ‘lay a finger on’ former President Mohamed Nasheed, while the prosecution prepares a second terrorism allegation against him.

MP Shahid said that Maldivians are now living under a dictatorship, which has displayed its tyranny by unjustly prosecuting a political leader adored by many.

“They can press all the charges they want – Nasheed will return to this country and he will return a free man, they cannot lay a finger on him now” Shahid said.

In a trip to Sri Lanka early February, Nasheed announced his decision to run for the 2018 presidential elections. The former president has been granted asylum by British government, after the Criminal Court sentenced him to 13 years in prison.

The Criminal Court this week scheduled a hearing against Nasheed for the detention of President Abdulla Yameen, who was then a parliamentarian.