MANAMA (Dispatches) -- A mass hunger strike by political detainees at Bahrain’s Jau prison entered its eleventh day on Wednesday, with rights groups reporting worsening health conditions among more than 70 striking inmates and warning that the standoff risks spiraling into wider unrest across the facility.
The open-ended strike began on October 4, when prisoners in Buildings 4, 5, and 6 refused meal deliveries, according to the February 14 Coalition, a banned opposition group monitoring prison conditions. Inmates in Building 3 joined the following day, bringing the total number of participants beyond 70 by October 10.
The detainees are demanding basic rights they say have been systematically denied: communal prayer, access to books and medicine, increased sunlight exposure, and contact with their families.
Rights monitors report alarming health deterioration. At least 45 prisoners have suffered fainting spells or severe physical collapses, with some showing critically low blood sugar levels, according to Bahrain Mirror, an independent outlet that has documented conditions inside the ward. Several strikers requiring regular medication for chronic conditions have reportedly been denied treatment unless they sign undertakings to end the strike.
Tensions escalated sharply on Sunday when security forces stormed Ward 6 and used force against prisoners protesting the treatment of hunger strikers. Communications from inside the ward were subsequently cut, leaving families and rights groups without information about the detainees’ condition.
The February 14 Coalition warned Monday that the prison administration’s continued “procrastination and stalling” in responding to the strikers’ demands risks igniting unrest across all prison buildings.
The strike unfolds against a broader crackdown that has intensified since the outbreak of regional hostilities in March 2026. 
UK parliamentary records cite more than 700 arbitrary arrests since March, including children, and the revocation of citizenship of 69 individuals, 33 of them children, the youngest just 19 days old. 
A UN submission by the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights documents 825 arbitrary detentions and 374 summonses between January and August 2026, alongside the detention of 59 Shia clerics between March and June, 44 of them arrested in a single day.
Bahraini authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Interior Ministry has previously denied systematic abuses, stating that the judiciary operates independently.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee is scheduled to review Bahrain’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights at its 146th session beginning October 19.