/asia
(CNN) -- Ibrahim Nasir, credited with ushering in independence to the Maldives as prime minister and then serving as its first president has died, a former government spokesman confirmed.
Nasir, 82, died in Singapore on Saturday after a long illness, said Mohamed Hussain Shareef.
Nasir served as the island nation's president from 1968 to 1978. It had been a British protectorate.
His successor, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, ruled for the next 30 years, becoming the longest-serving leader in Asia before he was unseated this year by a former political prisoner, Mohamed "Anni" Nasheed.
The Maldives is an archipelago of almost 1,200 coral islands south-southwest of India.
All About Maldives • Maumoon Abdul Gayoom • Mohamed Nasheed • India
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