(Image Source: Al Jazeera)


BY GILLIAN STEDMAN AND ADNAN KHAN

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

Authorities in Kyrgyzstan have begun force-feeding prisoners, to counter an inmate-led hunger strike.

But euronews reports the prisoners took an extreme measure to fight back. A warning -- some might find this video disturbing.

“More than thirteen hundred prisoners are said to have sewn their lips together with nearly seven thousand on hunger strike. The shocking images come from Kyrgyzstan.”


According to the BBC, the protesters are demanding better living conditions and, they say, an end to constant beatings that plague the prison system.


But prison authorities argue the disruption is being led by imprisoned gang members who oppose tighter regulations within the prison. WAGA reports.


“The prison system say staff confiscated several banned items during routine security sweeps, but prisoners claim that special forces barged into their cells and even beat some of them for no reason.”


Those tighter regulations include the elimination of the “common room,” where prisoners could move around freely. Al Jazeera quotes the penitentiary's head, who explains why the common room was removed.


“He dismissed the protest against restrictions on movement, saying the prisoners wanted to move around the jails ‘to continue to be able to make fools of the guards’. ‘That will no longer happen … Let them all sew shut their mouths.’”


But a reporter for Voice of America notes there’s a good reason for the restrictions, quoting the director for Detention Center Number 1.


“This is not a hotel, this is not a holiday resort, they should serve their time … You have taken pictures of everything that was seized. That included plasma screen TVs, refrigerators, handmade beds, mattresses that were smuggled in.”


Voice of America further reports some 200 prisoners have removed the stitches after a visit from family members and human-right activists.



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