A Maldivian couple and their four children who were imprisoned in an Afghan prison have been released, their relatives said.
Ali Shafiu, 32, and his ex-wife, Shahudha Hameed, 33, as well as their four children, were imprisoned in an Afghan prison to serve a 21-year sentence, which was handed down on November 11, 2018.
Their family told local media that they were released after a Taliban court reviewed their case and ruled that the sentence was invalid.
Furthermore, their family said that efforts to return them to the Maldives have been hampered by the present situation in Afghanistan, and the family has asked the Maldives government for assistance.
Shafiu entered Afghanistan in October 2018 after travelling to Pakistan via Sri Lanka. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison on charges of attempting to join the ISIL branch in Afghanistan known as the Islamic State Khorasan Province.
Before that, in 2015, Shafiu was detained at the airport for attempting to flee the Maldives to join the Syrian conflict.
In addition, he was arrested in 2015 on suspicion of possessing weaponry and explosives stolen from the Maldives National Defence Force, but he was freed four months later owing to a lack of proof.
