Maldivian politician, current Speaker of the People's Majlis since May 2019 and formerly the fourth President of the Maldives from 2008 to 2012. He was the first democratically elected president of the Maldives and one of the founders of the Maldivian Democratic Party. In the 2008 presidential election, he was elected as the candidate of the first opposition coalition defeating President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had ruled the Maldives as president for 30 continuous years. Nasheed assumed office on 11 November 2008. On 7 February 2012, Nasheed resigned as president under disputed circumstances, following weeks of protests by the opposition, which had then been joined by a majority of military and police forces. The next day, he stated that he had been forced to resign "at gunpoint" by police and army officers, and that the protesters had joined with "powerful networks" of Gayoom loyalists to force his resignation in a coup d'état. His successor, Mohammed Waheed Hassan, who had been a 2003 political appointee of Gayoom, denied these claims and stated that the transfer of power was voluntary and constitutional. The Maldives' Commission of National Inquiry reported that it had found no evidence to support Nasheed's version of events. In March 2015, Nasheed was convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Act of Maldives for arresting Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed while president, and sentenced to 13 years at Maafushi Prison. Amnesty International has described the conviction as "politically motivated", and the United States Department of State expressed concern at "apparent lack of appropriate criminal procedures during the trial".In 2016, he was given asylum in the United Kingdom, where he had gone for medical treatment. On June 29, 2018, he renounced his plans to contest the country's presidential elections, citing legal obstacles. He said the Election Commission's decision to reject his victory in a party primary poll was illegal and demanded that the authority be sanctioned.