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Rumeysa Hanci, wife of imprisoned imam Davud Hanci, talks about her family's situation in Calgary on Aug. 17, 2016.Larry MacDougal/The Canadian Press

The wife of a Calgary imam says there has been a lot of crying and praying since his arrest in Turkey, where last month's attempted coup has led to a major crackdown.

Rumeysa Hanci says her husband Davud is being wrongfully imprisoned and authorities have not explained what he's accused of doing.

She broke into tears describing spending their 13th wedding anniversary travelling back home to Calgary with their two sons, not knowing when she would see her husband again.

The couple and the boys, who are eight and nine, were in the country to visit Davud's ailing father.

Rumeysa says authorities took Davud in for questioning on the night of July 23 and searched the family's home early the next morning without saying why he was under suspicion.

Turkish media reports have said Davud allegedly helped orchestrate an attempted coup in Turkey last month, which has been followed by tens of thousands of detentions, arrests and firings.

Rumeysa says her husband, who provides spiritual counselling to prison inmates, is a humanitarian who would never do anything violent and she has faith Canadian authorities will do all they can to help in his release.

"My husband is a very gentle and kind man," she said, sitting at the dining room table of the family's northwest Calgary house, smiling wedding photos spread out in front of her.

"He's not involved with any violence. He's a very peaceful man."

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