Farah prisoners’ hunger strike continues

FARAH (PAN continued their hunger strike in Farah prison for the fourth day on Tuesday, insisting their names were among beneficiaries of a recent presidential decree.

Jail Superintendent Col. Abdul Qayyum Azimi told Pajhwok Afghan News the male prisoners had stitched up their lips. The men claimed they had not been freed despite the decree issued on the occasion of Eidul Adha.

In compliance with Karzai’s orders, Azimi said, around 23 prisoners had been released and sentences of 102 others remitted. He urged the Ministry of Interior and Supreme Court to look into the matter.

Prosecutor Baz Mohammad, tasked with implementing Karzai’s decree, said the inmates who had served half of their jail terms were entitled to remissions. Each of them sentenced to about 20 years in jail, the strikers were not eligible for release, he insisted.    

Shahla Abu Bakar, a provincial council member, met earlier in the week the protesting female prisoners who have been sentenced to 20 and 17 years imprisonment.

She said the women had spent five years each in incarceration and half of their jail terms would be remitted under the presidential decree.

In August, around 182 prisoners observed a hunger strike for five consecutive days, an issue that was later amicably resolved by a delegation sent from Kabul.

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