Tag: jail conditions

DUBAI: Inmates at a Bahrain prison have launched a hunger strike over harsh prison conditions, including 23-hour cell confinement and restrictions on prayer, relatives and authorities said Thursday.A statement from the prisoners, published by the banned Al-Wefaq opposition group, first reported the hunger strike in Jau prison which holds dissidents detained during a 2011 crackdown on Shiite-led protests. The Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said "hundreds of political prisoners" are taking part. Bahraini authorities have downplayed the incident, saying that "some inmates... returned their meals...