More prisoners join hunger strike in Maafushi Jail in the Maldives

Three of the prisoners in Maafushi jail, who were part of a bigger group that had dwindled down to the lone trio after starting a hunger strike on Friday, were joined by more prisoners on Sunday.

Twenty of the 200 or so prisoners in the Unit 2 block of the prison began their strike after complaining that they were being denied their rights. Except for eight prisoners, the rest had called off their strike by Saturday afternoon. By that night five more had called off the strike and eaten food, officials from the Department of Penitentiary and Rehabilitation Services (DPRS) said.

Hussain Rasheed Yoosuf, who has been temporarily assigned to manage the DPRS, said that while the number of strikers had dwindled to three by Saturday night, reports were coming in that that more prisoners had joined the strike again on Sunday morning.

“Already the amount of strikers has gone up to 15,” Yoosuf said on Sunday. He said that a DPRS team was already trying to find out the reason why the prisoners had decided to go on a hunger strike.

“The prisoners are talking about lack or rights or something,” he said. “We are investigating the complaints.”

Around 200 of the 700 or so prisoners in Maafushi Jail had gone on a similar hunger strike during last May.