‘What I saw as real was not reality’: Adeeb’s open letter from prison

I convey my best wishes and greetings in the ongoing holy month of Ramadan to all Maldivian citizens.

It is not unclear to me what most Maldivian people think of me, Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor of Henveiru Saamaraa. The Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor that was portrayed to the public during my short political life was the result of many causes and circumstances. Every conviction and everything one hears does not necessarily have to be true. It is certainly not possible to reach a result by knowing part of the reality.

A year and a half are about to pass since I was convicted of criminal offences and began serving my jail sentences. This is the second Ramadan that I greet behind the bars of a prison cell. The reality that these bars have been teaching me is that what I saw as real was not reality. The good that I thought was good was not so. The teacher who taught me who friends, family, well-wishers are and what family relations are in its fullest meaning is the loneliness of this jail.