JORDANIAN PRISONERS IN IRAQ STAGE HUNGER STRIKE

Jordanian prisoners in Iraqi jails have staged a hunger strike after being attacked by Iraqi detainees and officials in charge of the prisons, the Trade Unions Council said on January 17. “The Freedoms Committee of the professional societies has received information that Jordanian prisoners at Iraqi jails have launched a hunger strike after being exposed to death threats,” the council’s president Abdul Hadi Falahat said in a letter to Prime Minister Samir Refai. He urged Rifai to seek the release of about 40 Jordanians detained in Iraq. Rifai, who visited Baghdad two weeks ago, reportedly discussed the issue with his Iraqi counterpart Nuri Al-Maliki. Iraqi authorities promised to speed up the trial of Jordanian detainees, with some of them charged with fighting US-led invasion forces, media reports said.