Blood and money: stabbing attack follows campaign deal gone wrong

As counting from the 470 ballot boxes continued throughout the evening, live updates were accompanied by news bulletins keeping all up to date on this historic event – even the deaf.

Members of the Maldives’ deaf community were glued to the bottom corner of their television screen, where Shaheez Abdulla communicated in sign language for those with impaired hearing.

What was not communicated through Shaheez’s hands that day was the intense pain still coursing through his legs, his arm, and his back – the result of a stabbing just 72 hours earlier that he alleges was linked to one political party’s election preparations.