(In the picture at the top Dr.Waheed is on the left and Yameen is on the right)
Male, June 23 (newsin.asia): Former Maldivian President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan who has now become Special Advisor to the opposition Progressive Congress Coalition (PCC), said on Monday that the trial of his successor Abdullah Yameen “fell woefully short of international judicial norms.”
Highlighting the importance of swift justice for Yameen, the jailed leader of the Progressive Congress Coalition, Waheed said: “ I will work with the Leadership Group in raising awareness to the plight of my successor as President, who was deprived on a free and fair trial and continues to languish in jail.”
“President Yameen’s tremendous contributions to national progress, particularly in infrastructure development, is inescapable. It is disappointing that he remains incarcerated, particularly at a time of national crisis”, Waheed said.
Waheed had served as the country’s fifth Head of State, from February 2012 to November 2013. A renowned academic and diplomat, Dr Waheed had served in various United Nations agencies for over 16 years, before assuming the office of Vice President in 2008. Following his Presidency, he has been lecturing at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and advising the Vision 2030 mega-projects in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
He told the media on Monday that he would share his wealth of experience and expertise in further strengthening the country’s opposition coalition of the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and the People’s National Congress (PNC). He emphasized the urgent need to move from rendering lip service to meaningful action in implementing genuine democratic reforms in the Maldives.
Outlining his desire to serve the people, Waheed said that he would work in the frontline, to support, advice and assist the efforts of the Coalition’s Leadership Group, working hand in hand with all of its members.
Following the onset of COVID-19, the Maldives faces a period of extreme economic hardship, and that people have bigger worries than politics, Waheed said and called for national unity and for all political parties to work together.
At the press conference to announce the appointment of Waheed to the post of Special Advisor, the Acting Leader of the Progressive Congress Coalition, Abdul Raheem Abdulla invited like-minded, experienced political leaders to join the opposition cause as a patriotic call to serve the people to realize their aspirations for a better future.
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Source URL: Google News
