A number of inmates in Pul e Charkhi prison have begun hunger strike in response to President Karzai’s last decree on prisoners, Prison Officials said on Monday.
Afghan President Hamed Karzai in his last decree has brought some decrease in jail terms of some prisoners, which faced reactions of other prisoners.
Chief of the Afghan Detention Facilities Department Amir Mohammad Jamshid said that a number of prisoners have been refusing to eat lunch and dinner since Friday against the President’s decree.
Mr Jamshid added that the prisoners whose executions have been changed to years in prison and those who have major crimes are out of the decree.
“A number of inmates including smugglers and murderers with heavy criminal backgrounds have gone on strike against the decree. These people are kidnappers, thieves and people who have committed rape,”
Chief of the Afghan Detention Facilities Department Amir Mohammad Jamshid said.
Meanwhile, a number of prisoners in the fourth block of Pul e Charkhi prison through some pictures said to media that they have started hunger strike since Friday.
According to the decree, the prisoners who are sentenced to more than ten years in prison, two years discount, the prisoners of 5 to 10 years, one year discount, and the prisoners who have been sentenced to five years, faced six months discounts.
“There are al Qaida and Taliban followers among the strikers who want to take down the situation and provoke other prisoners ,” Amir Mohammad Jamshid said.
Chief of the Afghan Detention Facilities added that around 2,000 prisoners will be released and around 3,000 others will be granted discounts, based on the decree. He believes that the decree gives more advantage to female prisoners.
It is said that nearly 24,000 men and around 700 women are imprisoned in all the government prisons in the country.