Mohamed Nasheed
COLOMBO, Feb 02 (AFP): The exiled former leader of the Maldives vowed Friday to run for president after the Supreme Court quashed his conviction, dealing a major blow to the ruling regime.
Mohamed Nasheed, the country's first democratically elected president, has urged the government to respect the top court's shock decision to quash the convictions of nine dissidents and order the release of those serving jail sentences.
On Friday he told AFP the decision cleared the way for him to return to the Maldives, a south Asian atoll nation known as a honeymooners' paradise.
"I can contest and will contest," he told the news agency in Colombo.
"We must set up proper procedures for inclusive, free and fair elections with full international observation."
Nasheed was barred from contesting any election in the Maldives after the controversial 2015 conviction on a terrorism charge widely criticised as politically motivated.
He has urged the government to respect the top court's shock decision to quash the convictions of nine dissidents and order the release of those serving jail sentences.
The court said the "questionable and politically motivated nature of the trials of the political leaders warrant a retrial".
The ruling brought opposition activists onto the streets in celebration, sparking clashes with police who fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
It threatens to isolate President Abdulla Yameen, who has faced previous unsuccessful opposition attempts to impeach him for alleged corruption.
The Maldives' popular image as an upmarket holiday paradise has been severely damaged by a major crackdown on dissent under Yameen, who has overseen the jailing of almost all the political opposition.
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