Nihan Hussain Manik, the Parliamentary Group leader of Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), has said that foreign ambassadors do not need to know how many prisoners there are in Maldives.

He said this after US Ambassador Atul Keshap on Twitter said that arrests are happening so fast in Maldives during the State of Emergency that it was hard to keep track.

In the tweet, Ambassador Keshap asked How many duly elected Members of Parliament and constitutionally designated officers of the government are now in jail?

[twitter]

At a ruling party press conference on Saturday, Nihan said that those in jail include supporters of the opposition who have been alleged or confirmed to have committed crimes. Nihan also asked why no one is calling for the release of all the other prisoners that do not support the opposition.

Ambassador Keshap’s comments came after authorities arrested numerous people at the protests held in different parts of Male’ on Friday.