Mandela, Gandhi, Wilberforce, Sheppard, Martin Luther King.
People who fought for justice and freedom.
They fought against tyranny, imperialism, slavery, civil injustice and the institutions of human servitude.
More than that, their fight was non-violent.
They took on the most powerful institutions in the world and did so non-violently.
The personal risk to them was huge.
They were the leaders; their lives were always at risk.
But still they fought.
Still they led.
I would like to think that were I alive then, I would have had the courage to support them all, to encourage them, to push them on and never let them waver or give up.
Today, a new leader exists who fights their fight, opposes the same enemies and uses the same weapons - nonviolence, civil disobedience and personal courage.
His name is Mohamed Nasheed.
He has been imprisoned, he has been tortured and he is once again in prison. His fight is for democracy, freedom, judicial impartiality, an end to corruption, an end to police brutality and torture.
But I cannot urge him on, I cannot hope the he will keep fighting, I cannot hope that he will sacrifice ALL in the interests of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
You see, he is my nephew and I don't want him killed, I don't want him tortured, I don't want his family further victimised and brutalised.
Mohamed Nasheed is my wife's sister's son.
He is a Maldivian.
The Maldives is one of the smallest island nations on the planet.
Generally, it is known as a spectacularly beautiful tourist paradise.
This tourist picture, carefully nurtured by many media and tourist agencies, ignores the fact the island nation has, for more than 30 years, been run by a despot.
Mohammed Nasheed (everyone calls him ''Anni'') began his protest against the rule of the autocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom when he returned from schooling in the UK.
He was imprisoned numerous times.
He was bent over and manacled to the floor and then repeatedly kicked in the spine by his police guards, he was fed food laced with crushed glass, but he never gave up.
Against all odds he fought on.
And thanks to the intervention of Amnesty International, he survived.
Mohamed Nasheed is just a delightfully likeable person.
His charisma and personal beliefs sparked loyalty in others.
His movement grew.
Unbelievably he ousted the old dictator in an election.
He actually won an election against a dictator!
The old guard had seriously misjudged his popularity and when the results were published they could do nothing.
Anni, Mohamed Nasheed, became president of the Maldives in 2008.
A new era of politics began.
Civil liberties were respected.
Parliament operated openly, elections were conducted fairly, a pension was given to the old, affordable housing was provided for the poor.
And it was done on a balanced budget!
It wasn't a golden age, but it was a great start.
However, evil slumbers; it does not die.
In 2012 the old guard orchestrated a coup and Mohamed Nasheed was removed from power.
Since then, an interim government and now a new government have tried and failed to rule.
The current president, Yameen, is the brother of the old despot Maumoon Abdul Gayoom.
It is the same tyranny, just in another guise.
Brutality has returned, corruption has returned, fundamentalism is growing exponentially, democracy is dying and the rule of law is a farce.
The new regime's latest gambit has been to stage a trial and imprison Mohamed Nasheed.
The trial has been condemned as a legal farce by every international judicial body that has looked into it.
After all, having a judge who has previously given evidence against the defendant is hardly the epitome of British jurisprudence.
Mohamed Nasheed fights for everything New Zealanders believe in.
He is Muslim as everyone who is a Maldivian is Muslim, but he is fervently anti-jihadist and anti-fundamentalist.
He is a democrat.
He believes in freedom for all and a non-corrupt government and the rule of law.
Not just any law, but law based on the concepts of freedom and justice that Western civilisation holds dear.
When everything else in the Islamic world is becoming more and more anti-Western, when everything else is becoming more and more extreme, when everywhere else we see the growth of authoritarianism and despotism, why is it that Western nations, including New Zealand, have done nothing, other than talk, to support such a person?
Why have we let him be thrown into jail again where his life is daily at risk of accidental, extrajudicial termination?
Concerted action by Western nations will hopefully keep him alive, but also, if applied strategically, international sanctions would have a huge effect and should help return this nation to democracy and remove it from the path of fundamentalism and despotism, down which it is hurtling.
