Exiled Maldives leader free to contest election

The exiled former leader of the south Asian atoll nation of the Maldives vowed yesterday to run for president after the supreme court quashed his terror conviction, dealing a major blow to the ruling regime.

Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically elected president, has urged the government to respect the top court’s shock decision to quash the convictions of nine jailed dissidents and free them.

He also called for Abdulla Yameen, the president, to resign.