Families members of those detained under the State of Emergency (SoE) has spoken out in the Joint Opposition ceremony on Friday.

Khadheeja Sana, the daughter of jailed Jumohoree Party (JP) leader Qasim Ibrahim, spoke in public for the first time in the ceremony held on Friday evening, in capital Male' City.

Sana said her father’s only crime was refusing to support President Abdulla Yameen, and that her brother Siyad Qasim, who has also been jailed, is not the type of person to commit a crime.

Also at the ceremony, Adam Zalif, the brother of jailed Dhangethi MP Ilham Ahmed, said that his arrest was an injustice to the entire family, but that Ilham’s imprisonment will not stop the reform effort or Ilham’s courage.

Hassan Latheef, the chairperson of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), said that every member of the opposition coalition will work for the rights of those detained, and vowed that MDP will not stop until every SoE detainee is released.

Speaking at the ceremony, MP Mariya Ahmed Didi, who is representing some of the detainees, detailed the inhumane conditions under which the prisoners are being kept.

A large poster of those still detained has been posted at MDP’s campaign site, and jailed MP Ahmed Mahloof’s father led a prayer for the end to the government’s tyranny.