Jailed teachers ‘may go on hunger strike’
By NOOR TOORANI
Published: 7th May 2008
FAMILIES of Bahraini teachers held in a Saudi jail for more than two months have claimed the men could resort to a hunger strike if they are not released soon.
Four of the eight teachers reportedly told their families they would take the drastic action when they visited them in the Riyadh prison last week.
Jailed teachers ‘may go on hunger strike’
By NOOR TOORANI
Published: 7th May 2008
FAMILIES of Bahraini teachers held in a Saudi jail for more than two months have claimed the men could resort to a hunger strike if they are not released soon.
Four of the eight teachers reportedly told their families they would take the drastic action when they visited them in the Riyadh prison last week.
However, it was not clear yesterday whether Sayed Ahmed Alawi, 29, Isa Abdulhassan Ahmed, 26, Mohammed Hassan Ali Marhoon, 30, and Mohammed Abdulla Al Momen, 32, had already gone on hunger strike.
First secretary at the Bahrain Embassy in Riyadh, Moosa Al Noaimi, confirmed the threat had been made.
However, he said reports that the teachers were already on hunger strike were still being treated as rumours.
“It’s hard to determine if any of the detainees is on a hunger strike by their families because there is no contact between the detainees and their families,” he said.
“Any report quoting families that they are on strike is rumours because it’s just impossible for them to find out how the detainees are doing because they can’t call them or visit them on a daily basis.”
The four men are joined in prison by fellow teachers Mohammed Mahdi Khalil, 30, Majeed Al Ghasra, 28, Abbas Ahmed Ibrahim, 31, Ibrahim Merzn Al Haddad, 28.
All eight are teachers at Al Jaberiya Secondary Boys School and Shaikh Abdulla Secondary School.
They were detained after straying into a restricted area while travelling in Saudi Arabia on February 29.
The Bahrain Embassy says it is following up their case and has handed a letter to Riyadh Governor Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Arabia Interior Minister Prince Naif bin Abdul Aziz, which was written by the men’s families on their visit to Riyadh.
Sayed Hussain Alawi, brother of inmate Sayed Ahmed Alawi, said yesterday that his brother had threatened to go on hunger strike when his older brother Sayed Jaffar, his mother Lulwa, sister Zahra and sister-in-law Alaweeya Hilal visited him in prison.
“My brother told them he would go on hunger strike if the Bahraini government does not secure his release,” said Mr Alawi.
“We can’t make sure that he has actually gone on strike because we don’t have any means of reaching them – not even by phone.
“Even if he did go on hunger strike and he had been transferred to a hospital, we wouldn’t know because no one tells us anything.”
As the teachers had been held in solitary confinement, they were starting to hallucinate, he said.
“When our family visited him, my brother was mentally tired due to staying in solitary confinement and has started going crazy,” said Mr Alawi.
Grief
“They have started talking to themselves because they are alone most of the time and only get 15 minutes a week out in the courtyard.”
He said his mother Lulwa had been crying every day.
“All my mother does is cry and it’s heartbreaking to see her in such a state,” he said.
“She keeps telling me that she’s afraid she will die before she sees her son a free man.”
noor@gdn.com.bh
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