Bahraini protesters have taken to the streets in solidarity with hunger-striking prisoners at the infamous Jau Prison and to demand their immediate release, as the ruling Al Khalifah continue to crack down on dissent.

Marches took place in Manama, the capital, as well as the northern cities of Jidhafs and al-Maqsha, and the towns of Sanabis and Al-Daih to condemn the maltreatment of activists in Bahrain's prisons.

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.

البحرينيون في انتفاضة غاضبة يتضامنون مع السجناء المضربين عن الطعام في سجن جو - جدحفص/الديه#لنا_حق #أطلقوا_سجناء_البحرين #الوفاق #البحرين #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/wrl73KEMXU

— Alwefaq Society (@ALWEFAQ) August 18, 2023

The marchers held up photos of Bahrain's most important Shia cleric, Ayatollah Issa Qassem and demanded the release of all political prisoners being detained in overcrowded jails.

Protesters chanted anti-government chants and held the Al Khalifah rulers fully accountable for political prisoners' deaths.

In November, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Bahraini political party Al-Wefaq, Sheikh Hussain Al-Daihi, announced that his party would be boycotting the general elections in Bahrain due to failure to implement a crucial reform, ongoing political repression in the country, and authorizing the zionist entity to meddle with the country's domestic affairs.

Read next: Bahraini activists enraged by purchase of Bahraini island by 'Israel'

Since a popular movement began in mid-February 2011, protests against the ruling family have been organized on a regular basis in Bahrain.

People want the Al Khalifah dictatorship to step down and make way for a fair system that represents all Bahrainis. The Al Khalifah rulers, however have gone to tremendous lengths to suppress any opposition. 

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.