Male’, Maldives – Inquiry report compiled by the Parliament’s Committee on National Security Services (241 Committee) revealed that former President and Current Speaker of Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed’s name appeared repeatedly on the list of those who must be killed over religious issues.
According to the 241 Committee’s Inquiry Report on the attack on Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed on May 6, 2021, within about the past two years, the threat level on Speaker Nasheed was assessed nine times over different types of warnings to the extent that the threat level on him has now been raised to the highest level.
The report reads that the threat level on Speaker Nasheed only increased further by time.
The Inquiry Report details that since Speaker Nasheed returned to Maldives from United Kingdom on November 01, 2018 after the presidential elections, different types of threats were on him, out of which the first appeared when he traveled to GDh. Madaveli in 2019. Police inquiry reveals that an individual was also arrested then accusations of a group of extremists attempting to attack Speaker Nasheed that day.
As a result of this, the threat level of Speaker Nasheed was raised on April 25, 2019.
Other than this, the Inquiry Report states that the Police intelligence also received information that Speaker Nasheed was the first target, among the Parliament members who were given death threats for voting on appointing female judges to the Supreme Court, after which his threat level was once again reviewed by Police.
On September 3, 2019, the threat level on Speaker Nasheed was again reviewed after an individual tweeted that they recieved information from an “extremist” that a group of people are planning to murder Speaker Nasheed. After about a month on October 17, 2017, Police was notified of a Facebook Page that posted an edited photo of Speaker Nasheed where he was stabbed on his head with a knife and on his chest with an axe.
The report also stated that on December 29, 2019, Police Intelligence received information that a group of people were attempting to murder Speaker Nasheed.
Since then, a video uploaded on July 26, 2020 called on to the people to attack Speaker Nasheed as “the parliament is going against the Islamic rules, by making halal things haram and haram things halal.” The video also encouraged extremists to select the parliament and parliament members as their target.
Following this incident, the threat level on Speaker Nasheed was raised to severe.
In addition to this, a Facebook page opened on February 15, 2021 publicized a list of names they wished to kill “for the God and his Prophet.” Speaker Nasheed’s name was also included in this list. As this attack could be given at a sooner time, the threat level on Speaker Nasheed was further raised to “critical” on February 25, 2021.
The attack on Speaker Nasheed on May 06, 2021 comes after he was threatened multiple times. According to the inquiry report, Speaker Nasheed was stalked and his actions were observed and photographed from a distance. Along with this, the report shows that the people who attacked Speaker Nasheed on May 06 were also active near his house before the attack.
The IED explosion went off around 20:20 on 6 May leaving Speaker of Parliament, Mohamed Nasheed critically injured while he was getting in to his car near his house, G. Kenereege, Malé City. In addition to the Speaker, three more people were injured from the explosion including the Speaker’s bodyguards and bystanders.
Nasheed was taken to ADK with heavy bleeding and both internal and external shrapnel injuries. Ball bearings were found in Nasheed’s chest, near the heart. Injuries caused by these projectiles caused life threatening damage to the chest area. Nasheed endured major injury to the fourth rib, with a blade going through a lung. A projectile also went through his intestine with another near his liver.
Speaker Nasheed was treated at the Critical Care Unit of ADK hospital in Malé until he was airlifted to Germany on May 13, 2021, for recovery and rehabilitation. Parliament had previously revealed that Speaker Nasheed’s medical expenses in Germany are being covered by Honorary Consul of Maldives in Germany, Christian Von Stetten.
To date, eight people have been arrested in relation the terror attack, with all of them indicating radicalisation. Maldives Police Service, Parliamentary 241 Committee and the MDP May 6 Committee as well as other authorities are currently investigating into the case
