Bahraini detainees and activists convicted for taking part in anti-government demonstrations last year will begin a hunger strike Sunday protesting a new crackdown on demonstrators, a rights group said. The strike was announced as the Gulf kingdom’s interior minister called for punishment against those “attacking policemen” to be toughened to 15 years in prison. “This evening, they will have their last meal” before going on hunger strike, the head of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), Mohammed al-Maskati told AFP.
BYSHR said 14 prominent human rights activists and opposition leaders were to begin the hunger strike “in solidarity with pro-democracy protests and in protest against the brutal crackdown.” Maskati said that detainees held in police stations and the Dry Docks detention centre would also join the strike as well as BYSHR activists not presently behind bars. The 14 leading figures in jail include several opposition leaders who were convicted last year of plotting to overthrow the regime of the Sunni Al-Khalifa ruling family after security forces quelled a month-long protest movement demanding democratic changes.