KABUL (Pajhwok): Hundreds of prisoners held at the notorious Pul-i-Charkhi jail east of Kabul have been on hunger strike over the past five days, vowing to continue their strike until their demands are met.
Muhibullah, a prisoner who talked to Pajhwok Afghan News over the telephone, said about 1,800 prisoners at the jail’s fourth block were denying food over the past six days.
The resident of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, claimed 200 of the protesting inmates had their lips stitched together.
He said the inmates went on hunger strike after President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, who recently toured the national detention facility, did not act to meet demands the inmates had made on him.
He said all death row inmates had urged the president to pardon them and others called for announcing a general amnesty and releasing ailing and elderly inmates.
Their other demands included implementation of previous presidential decrees, provision of technical and religious education and prevention of drugs and knives from reaching inmates.
Muhibullah said they were happy with the president’s visit and had been hoping their demands would be met, but nothing happened.
He urged the president and the national assembly to pay attention to the demands of prisoners.
Other inmates said they were not Taliban but they had been jailed for 18 years on the charge of having links with the movement. They had so far served eight years in imprisonment.
They argued had the authorities enforced the previous presidential decrees reducing jail terms of prisoners, they would have been released three years ago.
Another inmate, Habib Rahman Atif, said their demands on the president also included a decision on the fate of prisoners held beyond their jail terms and the establishment of a well-equipped rehabilitation centre for inmates addicted to drugs.
The two prisoners claimed the condition of some hunger striking prisoners was worrisome and they had been shifted to a heath facility inside the jail.
President Ahmadzai toured the prison Oct. 10 and listened to inmates about their problems. The president, currently on a state visit to China, had directed the Attorney General’s Office to reinvestigate cases of prisoners held on dubious charges and present him the findings within five days.
The AGO had sent its findings to the Presidential Palace. The president had told the prisoners that justice would be delivered in their cases and killers of Afghan security forces and drug smugglers would not be released.
Deputy Director of Prisons Lt. Gen. Mohammad Qais Fasehi confirmed the hunger strike, saying initially the strike involved about 500 inmates, but their strength had reduced.
He put the number of inmates having stitched up their lips at 30, calling their demands, including general amnestry, as illegal.
However, he said a commission had been created in line with directives from the president to investigate legal demands of the prisoners.
The commission would complete its job within 15 days, the official said.
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