Free us now!
By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 19 November 2006
A GROUP of detainees waiting to be deported after serving prison sentences are threatening to stage their second hunger strike in a week today.
Twenty Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi detainees staged a brief hunger strike at the Hidd detention centre last Sunday, to protest over delays in sending them home.
They vowed yesterday to begin a second strike from 2pm today, if promises to get them home quickly are not met.
They halted the strike last week after talks with officials, but were defiant yesterday, despite being urged by community workers to be patient.
Free us now!
By BEGENA GEORGE
Published: 19 November 2006
A GROUP of detainees waiting to be deported after serving prison sentences are threatening to stage their second hunger strike in a week today.
Twenty Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi detainees staged a brief hunger strike at the Hidd detention centre last Sunday, to protest over delays in sending them home.
They vowed yesterday to begin a second strike from 2pm today, if promises to get them home quickly are not met.
They halted the strike last week after talks with officials, but were defiant yesterday, despite being urged by community workers to be patient.
Among the detainees, 12 of them may be deported today, though it has not been confirmed officially, said sources.
Migrant Workers Protection Society action committee head Marietta Dias said the society was following up the case, but the detainees must be patient.
“A senior official from the immigration department has met the Justice Ministry and they are doing all they can to resolve the issue,” said Mrs Dias.
“It is sad that these men have to be kept waiting behind bars, some even for years after completing their sentences.
She said the problem affected far more detainees than just those who were protesting.
The GDN reported on Tuesday that embassy officials had also stepped in to help the men.
They claim they have been languishing in the detention centre for up to a year, since finishing jail sentences.”
Officials from their respective embassies say they are doing all they can, but that some of the men do not have passports or other papers, or still have civil legal cases against them, such as for unpaid debts.
Bangladesh Embassy first secretary Shameem Al Mamun said it was the Bahraini government’s duty to ensure the detainees were not kept for even a day longer than they should be.
Pakistan Embassy community welfare counsellor Habib Ur Rehman said they had been aware of similar problems for some time and last month the embassy helped in sending home four Pakistanis who had been delayed at the detention centre.
Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty told the GDN that seven to eight men were being deported on a daily basis from the detention centre.
But there were others who had civil cases pending.
The men started their hunger strike just after midnight on Sunday, but at 7am the Pakistani and Bangladeshi prisoners withdrew, following talks with officials, said sources.
The Indian detainees carried on until 4pm, when they also withdrew, following further talks.
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