BAHRAIN: 50 prisoners start hunger strike

Fifty Bahraini prisoners start hunger strike
Published Tuesday, June 5, 2012
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/fifty-bahraini-prisoners-start-hunger-strike

Dozens of Bahraini prisoners have begun a hunger strike in protest at the continued detention of a teenager in urgent need of medical care, activists said on Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old Ahmed Oun was shot in his eye during an anti-government protest three weeks ago before being arrested in hospital for taking part in an "illegal gathering," opposition figures have said.

Doctors have warned that without an immediate operation he will lose his sight in that eye, but the Bahraini authorities have refused to release him.

In response around 50 prisoners at the al-Hod al-Jaf prison where Oun is being held have begun a hunger strike which they have said will continue until he is able to get the necessary surgery.

Said Yousif, deputy head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), said the case was a clear example of the ongoing oppression of pro-democracy campaigners in the country.

"The prisoners decided today that they are going on a hunger strike until Ahmed is allowed to undergo surgery," he told Al-Akhbar.

"Before this announcement, these prisoners organized a protest. They stood in front of their cells and asked the prison's administration to allow Ahmed surgery. They threatened that they would go on a hunger strike if their demands were not approved."

Elsewhere on Tuesday leading human rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab was ordered to return to the public prosecution on charges of swearing.

Rajab, the head of the BCHR, gave an interview with Al-Jazeera on Monday and has previously been detained shortly after high-profile public speeches.

(Al-Akhbar)