Hunger-striking Bahraini prisoners denied medical treatment: Activists
Social media activists say hunger-striking inmates at Bahrain’s notorious Jaw Prison are being denied medical treatment and their overall health condition is getting worse, as the ruling Aal-e Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on political dissidents in the tiny Persian Gulf island State.
The activists expressed serious concern over the wellbeing of the detainees as their action entered the tenth day on Saturday, the Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.
The campaigners said the prisoners are being told to end their strike as a condition for any kind of access to health care services.
The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy reported earlier this week that at least 26 Bahraini prisoners are currently on hunger strike. Among them are 13 death row inmates.
They are demanding better conditions, including at least two one-hour visits per month, and unobstructed family visits.
The Persian Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights said in a report on October 15 that the Bahraini regime’s courts handed down 271 life sentences to dissidents between January 2018 and May 2019.
The report added that a total of 130 life sentences were issued by Bahraini courts between January and December last year – at an average of 10.8 cases per month. May 2018 set a record high then, when 43 life sentences were issued in just one month.
It further noted that the frequency of life sentences increased significantly in 2019, and a total of 141 Bahraini activists were sentenced to life in prison between January and May at a rate of 28.2 cases per month. The process reached its peak in April, when 63 Bahrainis were sentenced to life imprisonment. All those people sentenced to life in 2019 were revoked of their Bahraini citizenship as well.
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