President Mohamed Waheed has conferred the Order of “Nishan Izzuddeen” on Palestinian President, Dr Mahmoud Abbas. The award was presented at a ceremony held yesterday at the Palestinian President’s Place.

The medal was conferred upon Palestinian President to recognise his important contribution to strengthen the fraternal relations between the peoples of Maldives and Palestine, his valuable contribution in establishing peace in Middle East and his distinguished services globally to promote the ideal of freedom and human rights.

Order of “Nishan Izzuddeen” is among the highest ranking honours conferred by the State and is the highest ranking honour conferred on a foreign national.

Previous recipients of the honour include The Prince Philips, Duke of Edinburg (1972), The Lord Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (1972), former President of South Korea, Chun Doo Hwan (1984), former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Sri Shridath Ramphal (1989) and Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin AbdulAziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia (2009).