Boy Scout thwarts assassination attempt in Maldives

Kenneth Hynek • 9th Jan 2008 • Stray Thoughts, Names to never forget, Scouting, World News
Baden Powell, Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Mohamed Jaisham, Scouting

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A 15-year-old Boy Scout intervened to stop a man from stabbing Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom with a kitchen knife on Tuesday, a move the leader’s spokesman said saved him from assassination.
Gayoom, who was unharmed in the incident, paid tribute to teenager Mohamed Jaisham, who was wearing the characteristic green scout uniform with scarf and woggle at the time and foiled the attack by wrestling with the man and grabbing the blade.

The boy’s hand was badly wounded.

…

The attacker, an unemployed 20-year-old man, has been arrested. Shareef said residents on the island described the man as having extreme religious views. However, he said he suspected the attack was more likely the work of Gayoom’s political rivals than Islamist hardliners.

Well done, young Mohamed Jaisham, for carrying on in the finest tradition of courage and readiness that Baden Powell sought to foster in founding the Scouting movement!