Yameen, Abdullah (Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayoom), 1959–, Maldivian politician, president of the Maldives (2013–18). The half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who was president from 1978 to 2008, Yameen was first elected to parliament in 1993 and served as minister of trade and industries, of higher education, employment and social security, and of tourism and civil aviation. Following the establishment of a multiparty system in 2005, he helped organize the Dhiveh Rayyithunge party (DRP), then led the People's Alliance (PA), which joined dissidents from the DRP to form the Progressive party (PPM). Elected president in 2013, defeating opposition leader and former president Mohamed Nasheed in a rerun election, Yameen used the courts against his political opponents, members of his government, supreme court justices, and Gayoom, who had formed an alliance with Nasheed. In 2018 he lost his reelection bid to Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. He was tried and convicted of money laundering in 2019.
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