700 Pul-Charkhi Jail inmates on hunger strike

KABUL (Pajhwok): Hundreds of prisoners, some stitching up their lips, have gone on hunger strike at the Pul-i-Charkhi jail on the eastern outskirts of Kabul, one inmate said on Sunday.

Belonging to Ghor province, one prisoner Misbah told Pajhwok Afghan News that 700 Zone Bloc inmates were on hunger strike. Of them, 150 are said to have stitched up their lips. 

The prisoners are protesting against non-implementation of presidential decrees giving them remissions, he said, claiming a large number of prisoners would have been freed if the orders had been enforced.

Another prisoner from Baghlan province, Ahmad, endorsed Misbah’s view. He said the presidential decrees were implemented at the provincial level, but Pul-i-Charkhi jail authorities ignored them.

Lt. Gen. Mohammad Qais Fasihi, deputy chief of the prison department, also confirmed the strike. But he said only 12 of the inmates had sewn their lips as a mark of protest.   

They have been refusing food since Saturday evening, according to the official, who said a commission was working on implementation of relief orders.

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