Late President Nasir

Ahmed Nasir, eldest son of the late President of the Maldives Ibrahim Nasir, filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of the Maldives asking for leave to appeal a High Court decision in 1986, by which the Maldivian government acquired all the property located in Male in the name of his father back then to the state.

When asked why the lawsuit was initiated a long time after the decision, GN. Ali Shareef, who is representing Ahmed Nasir under power of attorney, said that the right time had come only now. He said that the political situation and atmosphere during the time of the High Court decision did not offer Nasir and his family any chance for a successful claim.

“There was no guarantee for Nasir’s personal safety and security back then. He could not have answered the claims of the state at the time in a secure and safe environment. The circumstances in Malé were extremely unfavorable, and people were infuriated with him. Some people were cooking up conspiracies against Nasir and fuelling a fire of hatred against him. How could he have come to the Maldives and attended the court to answer the state’s claims at that time? He could most probably have been killed”, said Ali Shareef, one of the most experienced lawyers in the country.

Ahmed Nasir, who lives abroad, has spoken exclusively with Sun over the matter, marking the first time a child of late President Nasir spoke over such a matter to a media outlet in the Maldives. After leaving the country in 1978, Nasir and his family have had limited connections with their country. Nasir died recently, never having come back from his exile in Singapore to his home country, which he led during one of the most troublesome years of its history. It was Nasir who fought a diplomatic war against the British for the independence of Maldives and won it in 1965.

Ahmed Nasir told Sun that his father was very disappointed about the acquisition of their family property for the state. According to Ahmed Nasir, his father always believed the Maldivian government’s decision to have had no fair and equitable basis, and had expressed his desire that his children should one day fight back for their family property rights.

Ahmed Nasir said that with the independent judiciary that is in place now in the Maldives he had hope of finally getting justice. He also said that if the Maldivian government wished to negotiate and discuss in the matter, he was willing to do so. He added that he did not affiliate with any political parties or factions, and that he did not want politics to come into this matter.