Middle East News
Jordanian prisoners in Iraq stage open hunger strike
Jan 18, 2010, 13:50 GMT
Amman - Jordanian prisoners in Iraq have embarked on an open hunger strike to press for their release, an Amman-based human rights group said Monday.
Lawyer Hani Dahleh, who chairs the Arab Organization for Human Rights, confirmed that 47 Jordanians were being held in Iraqi prisons. Families of the detainees have however put the total number at 65, he said.
'We have been told by the detainees' families that there sons began a partial hunger strike 10 days ago, but it turned into a comprehensive strike on Saturday with the participation of all detainees,' Dahleh told the German Press Agency dpa.
Most of the prisoners were university students, drivers and traders. 'All of them are held without charges and without trials,' Dahleh said.
He said the governments of Jordan and and Iraq were 'not serious' about ensuring their release and that appeals to the United Nations, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to intervene had gone unanswered.
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