AMMAN: At least 10 Islamists, convicted on terrorism charges, were on hunger strike on Wednesday at Juwaideh prison, 30 km south of Amman, officials and human rights activists said.
Public Security Department spokesman Major Mohammad Khatib said that the inmates were demanding that the authorities relocate them to a different prison, which is against regulations.
He pointed out that the authorities decided to isolate the striking prisoners from other detainees so that they be unable to promulgate their extremist ideas.
Khatib said that the detainees adopted the ”takfir ideology” which labels their opponents as atheists.
However, the Amman-based Arab Organization for Human Rights said that the striking prisoners cited “mistreatment, physical and psychological pressures, bad food and lack of ventilation” in a complaint they filed with the AOHR.
“We have received a complaint from the striking detainees which came completely empty of any relocation demand as alleged by the authorities,” lawyer Abdul Karim Shreideh, head of the AOHR Prisons Section, said.
He said that the AOHR planned to send a letter to the Prime Minister Nader Dahabi and head of the Public Security Department asking for a permission to visit the striking prisoners and to allow more transparency in dealing with inmates.
