NEW DELHI: International human rights bodies are rallying to get released up to "several hundred" reformists detained in Maldives for anti-government protests.

The detainees, including children, are at risk of torture and need medical attention, they say.

The Maldives government has not released the names of the detainees.

But a list of 19 prisoners, some of them members of the Maldives parliament, was Friday (Sept 10) released by the US-based Amnesty International and the Hong Kong-based Asian Human Rights Commission.

Some 5,000 reformists participated in pro-democracy protests in August, after which the government in the tiny Indian Ocean nation declared an emergency and started arresting them arbitrarily, the rights groups said.

The emergency order gave President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who has ruled the Maldives for the past 26 years, the power to suspend the constitution and take any steps necessary to maintain peace.

The arrested reformists are being held without charge or access to lawyers, and visits by family members are severely restricted.

The government alleged the prisoners were involved in criminal activities during the protests, but had produced no credible evidence to support this, the groups claimed.

On Aug 22, the Maldives government said it had released 62 detainees, but gave no details.

Three days later, it handed over some 22 children to a child rights body, a local newspaper reported. The children were sent to their homes but are not allowed to go out, except to attend school.

Other rights bodies, including the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, have condemned the arrests and urged the Maldives government to release the reformists.

Indo-Asian News Service