According to the BBC, at least 400 inmates are on hunger strike in a prison in Baghdad, Iraq. The women have been convicted of belonging to IS and are protesting against the living conditions they are subjected to in the high-security regime and their own sentences, which they believe are unfair, according to the BBC. It seems that they come from different countries, including Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Syria, France, Germany and the United States, and together with them there are also about 100 boys and girls in prison. This information should be taken with some caution as the BBC has not been able to independently verify it at this time.
The BBC was informed of the hunger strike by some of the inmates they spoke to on the phone; Some videos from inside the prison, sent to headquarters in Arabic, also show various women lying on the ground, seemingly motionless. According to the BBC, the strike began more than a week ago. The women protesting say they have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 15 years to the death penalty, although they say no sentences have yet been carried out.
A Russian inmate who spoke to the BBC on a pirated phone said she was sentenced after a 10-minute trial to 15 years in prison based on a confession she was allegedly forced to sign. Other inmates said about 60 women and 30 children have died over the past six years as a result of abuse at the prison, which was previously severely overcrowded, according to the Justice Department. So far, the Iraqi government has refused to respond to BBC requests for comment.
– Also read: The Taliban have killed the ISIS leader who led the Kabul airport bombing
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