Hundreds of Bahrain political detainees on hunger strike
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After authorities ignored their demands and deprived them of their basic rights, hundreds of Bahraini political detainees continue their open hunger strike for the second day in a row.
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Jaw Central Prison (Amnesty International)
For the second day in a row, hundreds of political prisoners in Jaw Central Prison, in Bahrain, are continuing an open-ended hunger strike, to demand their rights.
The strike comes after Bahraini authorities ignored their demands and continued to violate their rights with unfair decisions such as solitary confinement, neglect of health care, deprivation of the right to education, visits, and congregational prayers.
In a joint statement, the political detainees confirmed that the prisons administration, with direct guidance from the Bahraini authorities, has clamped down on them, depriving them of the most basic rights that even prisoners of war enjoy, and violating the international covenants and its 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 statement pointed to the "suffocating" daily program that keeps the detainees 23 hours a day inside their cells.
They also pointed to the detainees' worsening health conditions, the unjust visitation system with its reduced time and number of visits, which prevents several relatives from visiting the detainees, as well as the hateful intention to deprive detainees of their right to education.
The detainees stressed that after exhausting all means to recover their rights, they decided to carry out an open hunger strike.
Elsewhere, the statement underlined that the detainees' demands are a necessity, calling for a unified show of support through media and field action.
In early March 2023, the Bahraini 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.
The same association confirmed that many political detainees had died during the last period inside the prisons of the Bahraini regime, as a result of the deadly conditions inside the prisons, such as the unhealthy environment, the denial of the necessary treatment, and the abusive treatment. It also revealed that many detainees had died due to torture.
Read more: More than 470 human-rights violations by regime in 2023: Wefaq Party
