COUP D'ETAT IN THE MALDIVES. In February 2012 the Vicepresident of the Maldivian Democratic Party Mohammed Waheed was part of a coup d'etat supported by forces loyal to Maymoon Abdul Gayoon, an anti-democratic former president who consolidated power for thirty years and was responsible for human rights violations, such as political arrests of opposition members, torture, including hanging people upside down and covering them with a substance that attracted ants, or exposing them to the elements. A man murdered by torture sparked the democratic revolution which led to the presidency of Mohamed Nasheed, who had been imprisoned twenty times by Gayoom and tortured twice. Nasheed ran against Gayoom and his political system for democracy,is a pacifist who quotes Gandhi as saying that an eye for an eye only creates more blind and was also instrumental in securing commitment to reducing emissions at the Copenhagen conference, since the Maldivians stand to die from the consequences of global warming. He also stated that he was forced to leave the presidency at gunpoint and risks his life returning to the Maldives. Waheed, who was recognized almost instantaneously by the United States as the new president, already appointed Gayoom sustainers to posts in the government, including Gayooms' daughter to the cabinet,and claims this is "unity" by teargassing Nasheed supporters. He has also stated that Nasheed resigned willfully and without pressure and promised to appoint a commission to sustain just that.