MALE: Mohamed Nash­eed, the first democratically elected president of Maldives and current parliament speaker, was injured in a blast on Thursday near his home and was being treated in a hospital in the capital.

Photos circulated on social media showed a ripped up motorcycle at the scene, but it was not clear whether the blast was an assassination attempt.

Nasheed, 53, became the first democratically elected leader of the archipelago state after a 30-year autocratic rule.

He served as president from 2008 until 2012 when he resigned amid public protests. He was defeated in the following presidential election and became ineligible to enter the 2018 election due to a prison sentence.

His party colleague Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won the 2018 presidential election.

In 2019, Nasheed was elected speaker and has remained an influential political figure in the country.

Nasheed is known as a champion against global warming and an outspoken critic of religious extremism in this predominantly Sunni nation, where preaching and practising other faiths are banned by law.

Maldives is known for its luxury resort islands, but has seen rare violent attacks. In 2007, a blast in a park in the capital wounded 12 foreign tourists.

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2021