April 30, 2015 10:00 AM
Location: Murrow Room
Laila Ali, Wife of Imprisoned
Former President, to Appear With International Lawyers Amal Clooney and Jared
Genser
After many years as a dissident
journalist, prisoner of conscience, and democracy activist, Mohamed Nasheed
became the first democratically-elected President of the Maldives Maldives , and
as a platform to advocate for increased awareness of and action against global
warming. He made global headlines by staging an underwater cabinet meeting, to
highlight his low-lying country’s vulnerability to rising sea levels. He also
set an example by outlining policy to make the Maldives carbon-neutral,
transitioning from oil to solar power. His environmental efforts were chronicled
in the acclaimed documentary The Island
President. He was forced to resign in 2012, under the threat of
personal violence against him in a coup d’etat. Despite winning a
plurality of the vote in the country’s 2013 elections, the Supreme Court annulled
the results, returning to power the same family which had ruled the Maldives for
decades.
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.”
A small island nation in the
Indian Ocean most known for tourism, the Maldives also holds great strategic
economic and military importance because it straddles international shipping
lanes. The country has traditionally been a key ally of India , but the current government has a strong
relationship with China .
China is reportedly seeking
to build a naval base there to counterbalance India ’s
control of the Indian Ocean and the U.S. military presence in Diego
Garcia. Nasheed, who attended university in the United Kingdom ,
is a lifelong advocate for freedom, democracy and human rights.
Examining the case with Ali will
be her international lawyers Amal Clooney and Jared Genser.
This NPC Newsmakers news
conference is scheduled for Thursday, April 30 at 10 a.m. in the club’s
Murrow Room, on the 13th Floor of the National Press
Building 529 14th St. NW , Washington
DC 20045
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
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