The Imprisonment of A Climate Hero

In the remote Indian Ocean nation of the Maldives, they don’t have the luxury of discussing climate change as an academic subject. The small country’s very existence faces a nearly inescapable fate of submersion.

As president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed was embraced by the international environmental community when he sent out a clarion call for immediate action to harness greenhouse gases at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference of 2009. He was also featured in the documentary film, The Island President, which chronicled his inspiring efforts. And yet, Mohamed Nasheed now faces a different sort of struggle. He was overthrown by a military dictatorship in 2013 and was incarcerated earlier this year.

This week on Sea Change Radio, we discuss the plight of this imprisoned climate hero with his attorney, international human rights lawyer Jared Genser. Genser recently visited President Nasheed along with fellow human rights activist, Amal Clooney, who's also known as the wife of movie star George Clooney. I talk with Genser about the current political situation in the Maldives and what his team is doing to help free not only President Nasheed but also the 1700 other political prisoners locked up by the dictatorship of Abdullah Yameen.