Bahraini inmates go on hunger strike over glass barrier

Dozens of Bahrainis, imprisoned for participating in anti-regime protests, have gone on hunger strike in a show of protest against the presence of a glass screen during reunions with their families.

Informed sources, requesting anonymity, said inmates at the 9th ward of the Dry Dock prison on the island of Muharraq, northeast of the capital, Manama, are refusing to eat after jail officials decided to place a glass barrier in the visitation room, Arabic-language Lualua satellite television network reported.

The sources further noted that prisoners from other wards of the detention facility are most likely to join the hunger strike.

Jaw, another notorious jail and the largest in Bahrain, is also used to hold peaceful protesters, who participated in anti-regime demonstrations.

Human Rights Watch called last May for an independent investigation into allegations of mistreatment and use of “excessive force” against prisoners at the jail.

Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis in the kingdom, calling for the Al Khalifah family to relinquish power.

In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful pro-democracy protesters.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the ongoing heavy-handed crackdown on anti-regime rallies.

Amnesty International and other rights groups have repeatedly censured the Bahraini regime over the “rampant” human rights abuses against opposition activists and anti-government protesters.