DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Hundreds of prisoners suspended their monthlong starvation strike in Bahrain, an advocacy group mentioned Tuesday, simply forward of a go to of the island nation’s crown prince to the United States.
The strike will pause till Sept. 30 as some prisoners suffered well being issues and to see if promised adjustments by Bahrain’s authorities on the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Center will materialize, in keeping with the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, an advocacy group.
The promised adjustments embrace limiting isolation, increasing customer rights, extending the hours of daylight inmates have and enhancing well being care on the jail, the group mentioned. If the adjustments usually are not applied, the strike will resume.
The group linked the choice to Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa’s go to to Washington this week. He is scheduled to fulfill Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday and signal a safety and financial settlement.
Bahrain’s authorities acknowledged the cease of the starvation strike in a press release to The Associated Press, although it contended the strike had totally ended after spending weeks attempting to downplay the protest and the variety of prisoners collaborating. It mentioned that the suspension got here after “visiting hours were reorganized, the hours of open air access were increased and the number of contacts that could be contacted was increased too.”
The monthlong starvation strike had been one of many longest sustained demonstrations of dissent within the decade since Bahrain, aided by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, violently suppressed its 2011 Arab Spring protests.
Maryam al-Khawaja, the daughter of the long-detained human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, plans to journey to Bahrain within the coming days with activists together with the pinnacle of Amnesty International. She plans to advocate for her father’s launch, although she herself faces jail time in Bahrain, the house of the U.S. Navy’s fifth Fleet off the coast of Saudi Arabia within the Persian Gulf.
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