Inmates stage hunger strike to improve prison conditions

RAMALLAH (AP):

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are refusing food to pressure authorities into providing better conditions in their most defiant protest in years, spreading through Israeli prisons and beyond.

The hunger strike has rolled through most of Israel's 23 lock-ups, where some 5,300 Palestinians are detained with crimes ranging from stone throwing to masterminding militant attacks.

At least 200 Palestinian prisoners have been on a total hunger strike for the past two weeks, refusing all food but drinking liquids. Some 2,000 joined the strike overnight yesterday, said Kadoura Fares, who heads a prisoners' rights group. He said many of them have already been participating by refusing to eat three days a week.

Palestinian prisoners' lawyers gave varying numbers. It was not possible to directly speak to the prisoners.

The strike began as a small protest when an imprisoned Palestinian leader, Ahmed Saadat, was placed in solitary confinement. The 60-year-old Saadat, who is serving a lengthy sentence for involvement in the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister 10 years ago, is in poor condition after two weeks without food, say his associates.

The demands quickly spread to demand other privileges that Palestinian lawyers said were taken from prisoners earlier this year: taking university courses, bringing in books and watching Arabic television channels. They also demand Israeli prisons remove the screens separating them from their loved ones during family visits, and demand to be unshackled when they see relatives.