Jailed former President Mohamed Nasheed has returned to Sri Lanka, for the umpteenth time since being granted refugee status by the United Kingdom in May 2016.

The former President arrived in Colombo early Sunday morning, 'on an important mission' according Galolhu South constituency MP Ahmed Mahloof who announced Nasheed's arrival via twitter. However, Mahloof did not elaborate further on the matter.

Nasheed, the first democratically elected leader of the country, was jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges on 13 March 2016, over the arrest of then Criminal Court Chief Judge, Abdulla Mohamed.

He was granted medical leave in January 2016, and was allowed to travel to the UK, which granted him refugee status in May 2016. Since then he has traveled to many nations, including Sri Lanka, India, Switzerland, Norway, Belgium and more. During his trips to Sri Lanka, he holds meetings with senior officials of his party, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the joint opposition.