Striking prisoners to talk only to Kabul delegation

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): As their hunger strike entered a sixth day on Monday, prisoners at the central jail in western Herat province said they would only talk to an authorised delegation from Kabul to meet their demands.

An attorney at the provincial Prosecutor’s Office, Gul Ahmad Ramish, told Pajhwok Afghan News 160 prisoners had been on hunger strike since Tuesday last.

He said the provincial authorities had sent delegations for talks with the protesting inmates, but they had been refusing to talk to them and wanted a powerful delegation from Kabul to visit them.

He said demands of the prisoners included no exclusion of specific prisoners from presidential decrees issued on special occasions to cut short jail terms and review of their cases already decided by attorneys or courts.

Ramish claimed the health condition of some protesting inmates was critical. “The inmates of the sixth block have shut the door and are not allowing anyone to enter there. They have agreed to allow an ailing prisoner to be taken to hospital, but this has not happened so far.”

He said seven prisoners were injured during a scuffle between two rival groups of prisoners. The injured were shifted back to the jail after being treated in hospital.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a prisoner told Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone that the scuffle involved about 300 prisoners laced with knives and sticks. He said some prisoners lived in cells and others out of the cells in open.

He accused local officials of supporting one of the two groups of inmates. “Although the clash has ended, but both the sides are preparing for a new clash.”

The prisoner said provincial council members and government officials on Monday held talks on how to resolve problems facing influential prisoners.

However, Ramish rejected if someone supported one of the warring groups of inmates. “The clash was over the appointment of a leader of prisoners. Such leader stays in contact with relatives of prisoners and officials.”

He said 24 prisoners involved in the scuffle had been shifted to another block and the problem had been resolved.

Afghanistan Abdul Rahman Hotak, said the jail housed mostly convicted murderers and other hardcore criminals. Human rights officials have been unable so far to access the protesting inmates, he admitted.

He said the protesting prisoners wanted President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to send an authorised delegation to them for talks.

He said some prisoners continued to languish despite the expiry of their jail terms, a problem stemming from inefficiency of the judicial and legal organs.

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