Representatives of former President's Mohamed Nasheed, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih (Ibu) and Abdulla Yameen have decided to hold discussions with political parties following their decision to work together.
Former Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail and former Deputy Speaker of Parliament Eva Abdulla are the representatives of Nasheed. Former Hoarafushi MP Ahmed Saleem and former Alifushi MP Mohamed Rasheed Hussain (Bigey) are the representatives of Solih.
The representatives of the former Presidents held their first meeting at the Manhattan Business Hotel, with them subsequently providing information to journalists where Fayyaz stated that today's discussion covered bringing "issues" to the attention of parties and how they can work together.
"We held this discussion today in regards to the concerns held by the three former president's. We spoke as to how we can move forward after bringing said concerns to the attention of the parties," said Fayyaz.
After the former Presidents had signed an agreement to work for the defense of journalism and freedom of speech, former President Yameen spoke during the subsequent press briefing that night and stated that the strategies and timelines for the Presidents working together will be formulated by experts.
"We are now tasking experts to represent us and for them to help us form our strategies and hopefully assign the strategies within a proper timeline," said Yameen.
He continued by stating that protests against the government regarding differences of opinion will still take place even before the aforementioned work is concluded.
The agreement signed during the press conference held by the three former presidents states that the constitutional rights of citizens have been violated under President Dr Mohamed Muizzu’s administration. It also alleges that the judiciary has been influenced, and that the powers of Parliament and other state institutions have been undermined.
Additionally, the agreement also reads that freedom of press has been obstructed, journalists put in jail, the public's state of living has deteriorated, the economy has stalled and inflation has gone up.
The agreement goes on to say that the government has failed to rectify these issues and that trust in the government has been lost in the protection of public funds and property.
"As the hard-earned democratic rights of the Maldivian people have faded, we three Presidents agree to work together to put the country back on the right path," as was written in the agreement.
Under the agreement, the first thing the three Presidents call for is to release the two journalists who have been imprisoned for violating the gag order that was issued by the Criminal Court and to release those who raised their voice against the order. They also called for the trial regarding the two journalists from Adhadhu to be halted.
