Hassan who also works as Nasheed’s lawyer wrote a book which was officially released by Nasheed himself last Thursday. The 69 page book addresses the circumstances Nasheed faced during the downfall of his government on February 7. In his book Hassan states that Nasheed had gone to the main headquarters of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) early in the morning on February 7 and had wanted to discuss the state of the nation with leading government members but that he did not get the chance to. Speaker of Parliament Abdulla Shahid and Chief Justice Ahmed Faiz are amongst the leading government members mentioned in the book who had declined to head to the MNDF main headquarters on the pretext that the situation outside of the MNDF building was not safe. Hassan in his book says that the army had also not acted accordingly to deal with the “rebellious” police and army personnel gathered at the Republic Square. Nasheed had gone to the main headquarters of the MNDF on February 7 while a red alert had been declared and that on his arrival Nasheed had seen that even the army was not handling the situation with the dexterity that they should have been. It is described in the book that despite the tense situation several army officers were engaged in chess matches, playing boduberu (drums) music and other forms of entertainment and that Nasheed saw none of the professionalism the men should have been displaying which proved to be a source of great discomfort for him. Explaining the role of then Vice President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik in the transfer of power in his book, Hassan wrote that President Nasheed had been unaware of the Vice President’s meeting with the opposition coalition and when asked at a cabinet meeting to share the details of the meeting Dr Waheed had refused to do so. It was also stated that Dr Waheed had issued a statement on the night of February 6 supporting the rebellion started by the Police, and that even that had been done without any discussion with President Nasheed. Furthermore Hassan details that Nasheed had tried to contact Vice President Waheed on February 7 from the main headquarters of the MNDF but that Dr Waheed had not answered the phone. Hassan highlights this as increased pressure on Nasheed to resign and noted the Vice President had not carried out his constitutional duty under the situation that the whole nation was facing. He states that Nasheed had directly denied the using of weapons to quell the rebellion despite suggestions from high ranking officers. “President Nasheed saw the officers heading out MNDF in riot gear to gather round the mutinying Police join the crowd, thus he was forced to determine the allegiance of the higher ranking officers of MNDF that he was with,” he said. He pointed out that from then on Nasheed had become paranoid of discussing matters with the MNDF as well and had realized that the MNDF main headquarters was not a safe place for him as well, given the calls from within the building for his death and revealed that Nasheed had repeatedly asked to be taken to a secure location but that the army paid no heed to his requests. Another factor which further weighed Nasheed down during the situation was the fact that his wife, Laila Ali’s repeated request to be taken to a secure locations as Muliaage was no longer a safe place for his family to stay in, to which Nasheed agreed to. So to save himself he saw no other choice but to take upon the only choice of resignation as his those close to him saw no way out either. It also mentioned that current Defence Minister Mohamed Nazim had warned former Defence Minister Tholhath Ibrahim Kaleyfaan that if Nasheed did not resigned, the lives of Nasheed’s family members could be in danger and the life of Nasheed himself as well. “Right there then Nasheed was faced with saving his family, the government, members of the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and all the Maldivian people that support him from the brutality of the mutineers and on the other hand defending his position as the President,” Hassan wrote in his book. He claims that Nasheed was allowed out of the MNDF headquarters after he had agreed to resign as directed by the coalition and had requested to be taken to Muliaage to prepare for resignation but MNDF personnel had refused thus he had to prepare for resignation inside the headquarters itself. It was detailed in the book that current Defence Minister Nazim, current Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz and State Minister of the Ministry of Home Affairs Mohamed Fayaz had followed Nasheed everywhere he was taken, including to the President’s Office, and that Nazim had directed Nasheed on what to say and not to say at the press conference as well. It is explained that Nasheed had been unaware of the resignation letter penned and sent under his name to parliament, and the letter written with a pen had been given to his Legal Affairs Secretary Hisan Hussain which was in the cabinet office when Police Commissioner Abdulla Riyaz and Fayaz took the letter to the Speaker of Parliament. The book explains that for the purpose of confidentiality letters and other documents are exchanged between government and state institutions through electronic mail via the government electronic mailing system but that Nasheed’s resignation letter had not been sent in that manner, thus that it can be concluded that Shahid received the letter, but not with Nasheed’s consent and importantly noted that President Waheed had assumed his position without confirming Nasheed’s resignation. Hassan concludes in his book that when an overview is taken of the events of the day it is clear that Nasheed had resigned under duress.