Rights society voices support for ‘stormers’ – Jailed ‘activists’ hunger strike on

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KUWAIT CITY, Jan 9: Kuwait Society for Human Rights issued its statement in support of the position taken by those serving prison term at the Central Jail for storming the Parliament building as they started their hunger strike Sunday. The society affirmed that its support is in line with the universal human rights declaration and agreements which safeguard the honor and right of expression through peaceful means.

The society disclosed it received a joint statement from those who are on hunger strike through which they announced their intention after the speech delivered by Kuwait’s representative in the United Nations Security Council who stressed the country respects freedom of speech and peaceful demonstrations.

Based on the statement made by the Kuwaiti representative in the Security Council, the inmates considered their imprisonment against international laws and universal agreements that the Kuwait government abides by. The statement pointed out the prisoners involved in State Security offenses — jailed for crimes related to freedom of speech — announced their hunger strike to demand for their rights like in other cases.

Their demands include invoking Article 87 of Kuwait’s Penal Code which grants conditional release (quarter of a term) for State Security cases, as well as inclusion of such cases to the annual Amiri pardon (half the term). Hunger strike is part of human rights which a prisoner resorts to in protest against any treatment that breaches his rights. It is one of the freedoms of expression guaranteed in a manner that obliges the imprisoning government to respect this right. In fact, the government must be keen on granting the demands of prisoners in this regard.

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