Bahrain women end ‘strike’

DUBAI: A group of detainees at a Bahraini women’s detention centre ended a six-day hunger strike on Sunday after negotiating better prison conditions with authorities, a rights group said.

The five women ended their strike at the Isa Town women’s prison after wardens agreed to their demands, according to the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights and Democracy (BIRD), which says they are being held in connection with political activity.

Detainees will now be allowed privacy during phone calls to their families and will no longer be separated from visitors by glass panes, BIRD said. Hajar Mansoor Hassan, one of the five detainees, had been forced to suspend her hunger strike at the weekend after being hospitalised for low blood sugar levels.

Along with Hassan, detainees Najah al-Sheikh, Amira al-Qashami, Medina Ali and Zainab Marhoon last week launched the strike in protest against the mistreatment of detainees. Authorities have cracked down on political dissent since a wave of protests erupted in 2011 demanding an elected government in the country.

In April, parliament gave approval for military courts to try civilians charged with "terrorism", a vaguely defined legal term in the kingdom. Hassan, the mother-in-law of BIRD’s advocacy director, is due to be sentenced on October 30 on terrorism-related charges along with her son and nephew.

They face up to three years in jail. Bahraini authorities last week released high-profile female activist Ebtisam al-Saegh as she awaits trial. She has accused the government of torture while she was in custody. The Bahrain government has drawn international criticism for its crackdown on political dissent. Hundreds of protesters have been jailed and number of high-profile activists and clerics stripped of citizenship since 2011.