Female inmates go on hunger strike at Bahraini jail over ill-treatment

Three female Shia activists have launched an open-ended hunger strike at a detention center in Bahrain to protest their dire situation and mistreatment by prison authorities as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on human rights campaigners and pro-democracy activists in the Gulf kingdom. 

Three female Shia activists have launched an open-ended hunger strike at a detention center in Bahrain to protest their dire situation and mistreatment by prison authorities as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on human rights campaigners and pro-democracy activists in the Gulf kingdom. 

Prominent Bahraini human rights advocate Ebtisam al-Saegh said on Wednesday that high-profile activist Hajer Mansoor Hassan, 49, 41-year-old Najah Ahmed Yusef and Medina Ali have refused to eat their food portions since Sunday to express outrage over inhumane conditions at the Women’s Detention Center in Isa Town.

Saegh added that Hassan is currently suffering from symptoms of dehydration, warning about the deteriorating health conditions of the other two female inmates.

Prison authorities are reportedly keeping female prisoners in the isolation ward, and the detainees are unable to contact anyone from the outside world. They are denied any privacy as closed-circuit television cameras monitor their movements round the clock.