Bahrain Mirror: At least 500 prisoners are on hunger strike inside a Bahraini prison, in what is described as the largest demonstration of such a kind inside a prison in the Gulf state. Meanwhile, the Bahraini authorities continue to detain prisoners of conscience.

According to a statement from the inmates released through the outlawed Al-Wefaq opposition party, the hunger strike includes demands for increased time outside their cells, currently limited to an hour a day, prayers in congregation at the prison mosque, changes to constraints on family visits, improvements to education facilities and access to proper medical care.

"These are not frivolous demands, but necessary ones required for human life," the prisoners added. These demands come amid growing reports of widespread denial of access to medical treatment by authorities in Bahraini prisons, the use of solitary confinement, and other abuses.

Sayed Al-Wadaei, at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird) and a former inmate at Jaw prison, said: "This is probably one of the most powerful strikes that has ever happened inside the Bahraini prison system; the scale of it is overwhelming."

Detainees began refusing food on 7 August, and increasing numbers have joined since.

An estimated 3,800 people are behind bars, of which Bird estimates that 1,200 are prisoners of conscience. The tiny Gulf island of Bahrain has one of the highest incarceration rates per capita in the Middle East.

Arabic Version