News / Persian Gulf

Bahrain hunger strikers’ health conditions deteriorating

Wednesday, 02 March 2016 3:38 PM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 02 March 2016 3:37 PM ]

A Bahraini protester holds a banner reading in Arabic "Down Hamad," referring to Bahrain's king, during a demonstration to mark the fifth anniversary of the Arab Spring-inspired uprising, on February 12, 2015, in the village of Sitra, south of Manama. (AFP photo)

Bahraini activists say the health condition of most of hunger striking prisoners in the Persian Gulf kingdom's al-Hawd al-Jaf prison has deteriorated.

The detainees went on hunger strike in protest at glass screens that have been installed to prevent the families of prisoners from direct meeting.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Bahraini security forces attacked the prison in al-Muharraq Island in a bid to bring an end to the political prisoners’ hunger strike.

The security forces also threatened the hunger strikers with solitary confinement.

One of the prisoners, Mohammed Abdul Nabi al-Khor, has reportedly been tortured and held in solitary confinement following his objection to the glass screens on Tuesday.

Bahrain’s al-Wafaa Islamic Party reported earlier this week that some of the hunger strikers fainted due to their bad health condition.

The tiny Persian Gulf kingdom has been the scene of protests by pro-democracy demonstrators in recent years.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on the streets of Bahrain, calling on the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power. Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in an ongoing regime crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.

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