QUETTA:
The activist arrested Mahrang Baloch has launched a hunger strike along with other detainees, his sister told AFP on Friday.
Mahrang Baloch, 32, was arrested last month for charges of terrorism, sedition and murder.
Mahrang’s hunger strike “aims to denounce the misconduct of the police and the failure of the justice system to protect … prisoners,” said his younger sister, Nadia Baloch.
Nadia said the hunger strike was launched on Thursday after the “kidnapping” attempt by one of Baloch’s detainees.
The Balochjehti (Byc) committee said that the inmate was beaten by security officials and taken from prison to an unknown place.
A security official said the detainee was transferred to another prison and denied any abuse.
Byc said that four other activists detained from Baloch have joined the hunger strike. “All of them are peaceful political workers, imprisoned for raising their voices … their only ‘crime’ is to organize peacefully in an environment saturated with state horror and violence,” said the group.
