Jailed activists Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Douma have started a hunger strike in protest at what they described as bad treatment by their jailers at a south Cairo prison.
The prominent activists were sentenced to three years imprisonment last week for breaking a new protest law and assaulting police officers. The 6 April Youth Movement, from which Adel and Maher hail, issued a statement Thursday confirming reports that the activists had started the strike Wednesday.
Rights activist Mona Seif, Alaa's sister, wrote on Facebook that Maher, Douma and Adel have "started a hunger strike in protest at their conditions in prison. For example, their winter clothes have been taken from them because — after their sentencing — they are the wrong colour, and they have been given no replacements."
The 6 April group confirmed the prison adminsitration's denial of warm clothing to the three activists. Seif also added they were denied correspondence.
Since Egypt's interim government passed a stringent protest law in November, many activists face jail time for protesting without permits. Many activists rejected the law and have protested against it.
