10th August, 2023
Agency Report
Bahraini detainees are on hunger strike in protest of the conditions in their prisons, according to activists and authorities.
This is the most recent indication of simmering dissatisfaction in the island monarchy, a decade after the Arab Spring revolt.
The strike is aimed at the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Centre, which houses many of the convicts designated by human rights groups as dissidents who oppose the Al Khalifa family’s rule.
Sunni leadership in the country have long faced charges of discrimination from the island’s Shia majority.
According to a statement issued by the proscribed Al-Wefaq opposition group, the detainees began the hunger strike in response to prison officials preventing them from worshipping and regular 23-hour lockdowns.
It further claimed that prison officials arbitrarily isolated convicts, interfered with family visits, and provided insufficient healthcare to those incarcerated. Inmates are also denied access to school.
“Our demands are not trifles, but very necessary and required for human life, even at the lowest levels known to human history,” the prisoners’ statement read.
dpa/NAN