1500 prisoners start hunger strike in Egypt prison

At least 1500 Egyptian prisoners detained during anti-government rallies have gone on a collective hunger strike to protest against being mistreated in detention.

The detainees kept at Abu Zaabal prison in the Nile Delta said the charges brought against them are politically motivated.

This comes as many of the inmates are kept in custody without charge or trial.

They have also been complaining about the quality of food and their deteriorating health condition.

The prisoners say prison authorities have deprived them of regular visits.

The Egyptian army-backed government has detained thousands of protesters following the ouster of the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi last July.

The interim government has been cracking down on the Muslim Brotherhood by banning the group. Thousands of its members have also been arrested.

Meanwhile, Egyptian protesters have been demanding Morsi’s reinstatement and calling for the release of Brotherhood activists.

Amnesty International has recently criticized Egyptian authorities for using an “unprecedented scale” of violence against protesters and dealing “a series of damaging blows to human rights.”

The UK-based rights group said that 1,400 people have been killed in the political violence since Morsi’s ouster, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”