Milad Jafari clutched the microphone to address a crowd of 200 supporters calling on the government to free his wife from detention.
He tried but words failed him.
His sobs and tears revealed a broken man.
Eventually, Mr Jafari was able to summon the courage on Friday to publicly urge Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to intervene and free his 21-year-old wife, asylum seeker Mojgan Shamsalipoor, from detention in Darwin.
He has not seen her since authorities took her from Brisbane on August 7 after her asylum claim was rejected.
Ms Shamsalipoor was three months from graduating from Yeronga State High School and had ambitions to become a midwife.
"This is the longest period of being apart from each other; this has been the greatest challenge we both have faced in our lives," a teary Mr Jafari told supporters in a Brisbane park.
"Mojgan and I are in a very bad state ... we are mentally and physically exhausted.
"Mr Dutton, please help me protect my wife."
Ms Shamsalipoor's classmates, teachers and refugee advocates echoed her husband's plea.
School captain Eden Boyd accused Mr Dutton of "hiding behind a veil of silence".
"Mr Dutton, if you are choosing to ignore us, if you think we will disappear, you are in for a shock," she said.
The rally was the third action of the campaign to highlight Ms Shamsalipoor's plight.
Mr Dutton's office did not respond to AAP's requests for comment on Friday.
Ms Shamsalipoor arrived in Australia by boat in 2012 after fleeing sexual abuse and an arranged marriage to a man in his 60s in Iran.
Her asylum claim was rejected last year after she had lived in Australia for two years on a bridging visa.
