30 November 2017: Sofiane Mezghiche, spokesperson for the General Directorate of Prisons and Rehabilitation, said in a press conference that 80 detainees in terrorism-related cases have started a hunger strike at Mornaguia Prison since November 20th.

These inmates are followed by doctors. Some of them were transferred to hospitals and returned to prison the same day. Their health is stable and there is a protocol that we follow to treat the hunger strikers, said Sofiane Mezghiche.

The detainees want to impose their rules and do not want to obey the law and the organization of the prison. For requests for direct visits, this is a favor and not a right, said the spokesman of the Prisons Directorate.

The incarceration of prisoners is governed by standards according to their crimes and offenses in addition to their behavior, so they are not free to choose rooms in prison, Mezghiche added.

The spokesman of the Prison Directorate noted that a quarter of common law criminals who died of chronic diseases died in hospitals during the month of November. (Source: FM Mosaic)