Former President Mohamed Nasheed has expressed concern over the Finsbury Park attack in North London.
In a tweet following the attack, Nasheed said that such intolerance must be further dissuaded.
Saddened by the #FinsburyParkMosque terror attack. We must all work harder against such intolerance. My thoughts are with everyone affected.
— Mohamed Nasheed (@MohamedNasheed) June 19, 2017
In the fourth terrorist attack within a span of little over three months, a van had driven into pedestrians around the corner of Finsbury Park mosque, a five-storey, a building that conducts various charitable activities for the youth and poor.
London’s mayor Sadiq Khan described the attack as ‘horrific terrorism’ and it is being investigated by the United Kingdom’s Counter Terrorism Command.
The police said that a 47-year-old male, believed to be the van driver, has been detained by members of the public and arrested in connection to the incident.
The mosque had previously been shut down in 2003 after an imam, one who leads salat congregations, was arrested on terrorism charges. In 2015, ten years after it had been reopened under new management, an attempted arsonist had thrown a can of gasoline inside the building but failed to ignite it.
Former President Mohamed Nasheed has been living in self-imposed exile ever since Britian granted him asylum in 2016, following a thirteen-year jail sentence against him.