Imprisoned former Maldives president to be subject of April 30 Newsmaker

Laila Ali, wife of imprisoned former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, will speak at a Newsmaker event on Thursday, April 30, at 10 a.m. in the Murrow Room, publicly releasing a filing with the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention urging it to find that Nasheed is being held in violation of international law. Examining the case with Ali will be her international lawyers, Amal Clooney and Jared Genser.

After many years as a dissident journalist, prisoner of conscience, and democracy activist, Nasheed became the first democratically elected president of the Maldives in 2008. His environmental efforts were chronicled in the acclaimed documentary The Island President
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Nasheed left office in 2012 under what supporters said was a coup. The following year, he won a plurality of the vote but the Maldives supreme court annulled the results, returning to power the same family that had ruled for decades.

Out of office, Nasheed was convicted and sentenced to 13 years in prison on terrorism charges in March, stemming from the alleged wrongful detention of a judge by the Maldivian military while he was president. Amnesty International condemned the “sham trial,” and said the verdict was a “travesty of justice.”

Like all Newsmaker events, this news conference is open to credentialed press and NPC club members, free of charge. No advance registration is required. The news conference will also

For more information, contact Tony Gallo at 202-544-6973 or [email protected]