Two hunger strikers hospitalised

Two illegal immigrants on hunger strike at the Hal Far detention centre were yesterday taken to hospital.

The immigrants are protesting against prolonged detention.

The two are Ramalla Yusef, 31, of Sudan and Barbux Karim, 40, from Iraq.

Last week another immigrant on hunger strike was hospitalised.

More than 30 migrants at the centre went on strike last Thursday. Thirty-eight detainees at Ta' Kandja and 75 at Safi barracks stopped a hunger strike after they were addressed by Peace Lab director Dionysius Mintoff on Monday.

Fr Mintoff said that promises made to the immigrants at Ta' Kandja and Safi when they lifted their strike had not been honoured.

An immigrant at Hal Far has scribbled graffiti on the wall at Hal Far reading "We decided to die. Bring the key and open for us - Francis Akumba, Sierra Leone".

Fr Mintoff said the detention policy being applied by the Maltese authorities was not only flawed but also very much out of sync when considering the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which recognises immigrants as human beings.

It also went against the Church's teachings, he said.

He said the immigrants were living in conditions that were below prison standards.