Above 100 Pul-i-Charkhi inmates sew lips in protest

KABUL (Pajhwok): A Senate body on Tuesday said more than 100 prisoners at the notorious Pul-i-Charkhi jail east of Kabul city have sewn their lips shut and have been on hunger strike in protest against a presidential order.

Mohammad Hasham Alokozay, who heads the security and defense commission of the Meshrano Jirga, said the prisoners had sewn their lips closed and were on hunger strike for the past four days.

The prisoners were protesting against a recent presidential order that barred them from spending remaining jail terms in home provinces, the lawmaker said.

He said prisoners who have no relatives in Kabul to visit them wanted to be transferred to jails in home provinces.

Alokozay asked the Meshrano Jirga’s administrative board to send a delegation to the Pul-i-Charkhi jail and investigate the issue.

Senate’s second deputy chairman Mohammad Asif Seddiqi expressed concern over the prisoners’ situation and ordered the defense and legislation commissions to visit the facility.

However, Lt. Gen. Abdul Hakim Kohistani, general head of jails and detention centers, rejected the claim and said he had received no report about the hunger strike. He said prisoners could complain to his department if their rights were violated.

mds/ma

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