Iraqi prisoners on hunger strike at Basra jail

All 600 detainees at a prison in Iraq's southern city of Basra have gone on hunger strike to protest conditions that are "not fit for animals," a local politician said on Friday. The open-ended strike began at Al-Minaa prison in the southern port city on Thursday, according to Hussein Ali Hussein, a follower of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr and a Basra provincial councillor. "All the 600 inmates at Al-Minaa prison, including 200 Sadrists, have been on hunger strike since Thursday to protest against poor detention conditions in the prison, which are not even fit for animals," he said. "They are calling for the replacement of the prison administration, and have asked for the Red Cross to come and check on them." According to the United Nations mission in Iraq, there are more than 44,000 detainees in Iraqi prisons.