Ahmed Shaheed

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Ahmed Shaheed (born 1964) is a Maldivian politician. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs for two years, from 14 July 2005 until August 20 2007. He is a member of the governing Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) and one of the co-founders of New Maldives, a faction within the DRP spearheading the drive to make the Maldives a modern liberal democracy. Prior to being appointed Foreign Minister, Shaheed served as the first ever Chief Government Spokesperson of Maldives, a ministerial position within the President's Secretariat. In July 2005, Shaheed used his position as Government Spokesperson to reject the condemnation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the Chief Justice of the Maldives.link title

The Opposition MDP accuses him of being the chief "spin doctor" for President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom while independent human rights NGOs such as Hama Jamiyya hail him as a champion of human rights.

Shaheed is also the founder of the Open Society Association dedicated to the promotion of human rights, tolerance and democracy.

Although a very high profile sponsor of the governing DRP, he was defeated in his bid to win the Vice Presidency of the Party in April 2006.

On August 21, 2007, Shaheed resigned as Foreign Minister due to an impending motion of no-confidence against him in the Majlis, which followed criticism of the Majlis by Shaheed, who said that it had failed the people.^[1]^[2] Shaheed said that "a conservative guard within the parliament and cabinet" was resisting reform.^[2]

Shaheed had come under strident criticism for his advocacy of international human rights norms, such as extending standing invitations to UN human rights special mandates to visit Maldives and hosting of a UN Human Rights Advisor in Maldives.Image:Http://www.minivannews.com/news/news.php?id=3103 Shaheed's advocacy of an open society and strong anti-corruption measures were vehemently opposed by the President's brother, Abdullah Yameen and his supporters who mounted a series of motions of censure against Shaheed in parliament July-August 2007.^[3] His resignation followed his open criticism of the parliament for having failed to protect the fundamental rights of the people and for being a rubber stamp to sustain the 30-year old rule of President Gayoom. In his resignation statement he called on the President to step down voluntarily and expressed frustration over the slow pace of the reform programme.[1]

Dr Shaheed was educated at the University of Aberystwyth, UK before he obtained his PhD in International Relations at the University of Queensland, Australia. Shaheed is married with three children.