State foreign minister Hassan Saeed said a request by the Saudi embassy in Sri Lanka to hand over Nasheed's passport for visa processing has been forwarded to the former president's office. Saeed, however, said no further details were available. Haveeru understands that parliament speaker Abdulla Shahid and former attorney general Ahmed Ali Sawad, who are accompanying him, have been granted visa as well. Nasheed, the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) presidential candidate, travelled to Sri Lankan capital Colobmo on July 7 to obtain visa. But he is now in Malaysia campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections.