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Democracy Imperiled in the Maldives

Over the past month, pro-democracy demonstrators have once again taken to the streets as they had under Gayoom's rule.

(SAN FRANCISCO) - Well before the launch of the Arab Spring, the people of the Maldives, a Muslim nation located on a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, were engaged in widespread nonviolent resistance against the 30-year reign of the corrupt and autocratic president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.

The growing civil insurrection forced the dictator to finally allow for free elections in October 2008, which he lost.