#ImpeachNasheed campaign renews target to 1500 signatures

Maldives former president Mohamed Nasheed speaks during an interview with Reuters in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 29, 2017 | Photo: Dinuka Liyanawatte

Malé, Maldives – An active and ongoing campaign on the worldwide petition website change.org to impeach the Maldivian Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed and Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla has renewed its target to 1500 signatures.

The petition, which was created by “Dhivehi Raajje” [translates to Maldives] reads “Former President and current Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed has been continuously mocking the Maldivian people by challenging our social and Islamic values. Today he defends immorality and is trying to bring down the whole country. We call upon all members of parliament to Impeach the speaker Mohamed Nasheed and the Deputy Speaker Eva Abdulla.

The petition was created two days ago and has since amassed a total of 1488 signatures at the time of this article being published.

This comes at a time when the country’s political arena is anything but scandalous, with Nasheed’s brother, along with around 250 others being including other high profile persons of the constitutionally mandated Muslim country, being accused of homosexuality with a Bangladeshi man named MD Alamgir.

Unverified photos and videos of these sexual encounters have also been leaked on social media, which was followed by public outrage concerning homosexuality and prompted multiple arrests of individuals allegedly involved, including Nazim Sattar. It is said that the individuals portrayed in the videos were also blackmailed prior to the leaks. However, The Times of Addu has not independently verified these claims.

Nasheed took to twitter to criticise the government following his brother’s arrest, which garnered further hate against Nasheed himself with many calling for his resignation as well as his cousin and Deputy Speaker, Eva Abdulla.

Since then, Nasheed is also reported by local media outlets, to have claimed in a Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) WhatsApp group that he is in possession of four images of President Ibrahim Solih having an extramarital sexual relationship with a woman. However, The Times of Addu has not verified these claims independently.

Local media outlets have also reported that Parliamentary Members of MDP are expressing lack of trust in Nasheed as Speaker to their Parliamentary Group Leader MP Mohamed Alsam.