Overcrowding, water shortages causing spread of disease in Bahrain’s Jaw Prison

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Poor living conditions in Bahrain’s Jaw Prison are reportedly continuing to pose a health hazard for detainees.

Bahraini rights campaigner Ebtisam al-Saegh reported Sunday that a number of prisoners complained of overcrowding.

According to the activist, as many as 17 inmates are crammed into cells designed to hold only 8 people.

These “miserable” living conditions are coupled with constant water shortages, which is aiding the spread of disease.

Al-Saegh’s claims were backed by Fatima Al-Halwachi who said that her father, jailed Bahraini scholar and activist Khalil Al-Halwachi, was housed in the prison ward where the latest complaints were coming from.

“Detainees are asking for a space that fits them to just pray!” Al-Halwachi wrote in a Twitter post on Sunday.

Khalil Al-Halwachi is serving a 10-year prison sentence on weapons possession charges and “insulting the judiciary”.

The activist maintains that the evidence in his case was fabricated and that he was prosecuted in retaliation for his peaceful activism.

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