500 Bahraini political prisoners go on hunger strike, make demands
3 Min Read
Bahrain's political prisoners have made a list of demands after engaging in a collective hunger strike.
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In this Oct. 22, 2015 file photo, a Bahraini woman walks past images of political prisoners plastered on a wall in Sanabis, Bahrain. (AP)
In a Bahraini prison predominantly detaining political prisoners, at least 500 prisoners went on hunger strike as they refused food in protest at their detention conditions.
The hunger strike began on August 7, but multiple prisoners have since joined.
According to Sayed Alwadaei, who was a former inmate at Jau prison and currently works at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), the ongoing hunger strike “is probably one of the most powerful strikes that has ever happened inside the Bahraini prison system; the scale of it is overwhelming.”
In turn, Al-Wefaq, one of Bahrain's biggest opposition parties, released a statement by the striking inmates in which they demand extended time outside their cells, allow prayers in congregation at the prison mosque, changes to reduce constraints on family visits, and also improvements to education facilities and access to proper medical care.
The prisoners then underscored that “these are not frivolous demands, but necessary ones required for human life."
When they first started the hunger strike, the political detainees, in a joint statement, confirmed that the prison's administration, with direct guidance from Bahraini authorities, has clamped down on them, depriving them of the most basic rights that even prisoners of war enjoy, and violating international covenants and Bahrain's written constitution.
They added that the authority underestimated their rights and even their human dignity, which has been "repeatedly crushed" by unjust decisions, including imposing unjust isolation of a number of detainees and depriving them of many of their rights, including the freedom to practice religious rituals.
The detainees stressed that they decided to carry out an open hunger strike after exhausting all means to recover their rights.
In early March 2023, Bahrain's Al-Wefaq Society highlighted in a report that more than 14,000 cases of arbitrary arrest have taken place in Bahrain since 2011, noting that security campaigns and violations affected 15 former MPs, who were targeted by the authorities in Bahrain over their stances on freedom of expression.
Al-Wefaq confirmed that many political detainees had died during the last period inside Bahrain's prisons as a result of the deadly conditions inside, such as the unhealthy environment, the denial of the necessary treatment, and the abuse. It also revealed that many detainees had died due to torture.
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