Male, November 11
A former political prisoner and democracy crusader who defeated Asia’s longest-serving ruler in the first multiparty election in the Maldives was sworn in as the President of the Indian Ocean archipelago on Tuesday.

The newly sworn in President Mohamed ‘Anni’ Nasheed inspects a Maldives National Defence Force Honour Guard in a ceremony in Male on Tuesday. — AFP

“No other citizens in the world in modern times have changed a 30-year-old regime so peacefully. I congratulate the Maldivian citizens,” Mohamed Nasheed, 41, said shortly before signing the presidential oath to thundering applause and a 21-gun salute. Nasheed takes over from Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the President who ruled for three decades and repeatedly jailed him on what rights groups say were trumped-up charges. Gayoom did not appear at the ceremony.

Nasheed, who was just 11 when Gayoom took power in 1978, defeated his former adversary in a runoff poll on October 28 with 54.2 per cent of the votes. — Reuters