Buthidaung: 71 foreign prisoners in the Buthidaung prison have taken up a hunger strike to protest the insufficient amount of food they are given daily, after the UN rights envoy visited the prison, said a source close to the prison."In the Buthidaung prison, there are 71 foreign prisoners. When UN rights envoy Quintana visited the prison, the prison authorities confined them in their cells and did not allow them to meet with him. After that the foreign prisoners started their strike," the source said,
The foreign prisoners are primarily Bangladesh nationals, but some are Chinese, Thai, and Taiwanese.
"The foreign prisoners wanted to meet the UN envoy to present their situation in the prison but they did not get the chance. The foreign prisoners are facing many problems including insufficient food in the prison," the source said.
Many prisoners in Buthidaung, both foreign and Burmese nationals, have to depend on food brought in by visitors from outside due to the low amount and poor quality of food provided by the government.
However, the authorities do now allow the foreign prisoners to receive foods from outside, leaving them at the mercy of the prison rations.
A relative of a Burmese prisoner in Buthidaung said, "I heard the information that the foreign prisoners' hunger strike is because they are angry with the prison authority's discrimination."
However, he said that he did not know the latest situation of the prisoners since the hunger strike began.
Buthidaung prison is located in northern Arakan and is notorious in the state for the abuses perpetrated by prison authorities against the prisoners.
The hunger strikers in Buthidaung prison wanted to tell of the situation of foreign prisoners so exiled media could air their story and get the attention of rights groups as well as high officials from Naypyidaw, the family source added.
Source :http://www.narinjara.com/details.asp?id=2495
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