Hundreds of Bahrain prisoners suspend hunger strike as crown prince to visit United States

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Hundreds of prisoners suspended their monthlong hunger strike in Bahrain on Tuesday, an advocacy group said, just ahead of a visit of the island nation’s crown prince to the United States.

The strike will pause until Sept. 30 as some prisoners suffered health problems and to see if promised changes by Bahrain’s government at the Jaw Rehabilitation and Reform Center will materialize, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, an advocacy group.

The promised changes include limiting isolation, expanding visitor rights, extending the hours of daylight inmates have and improving health care at the prison, the group said. If the changes are not implemented, the strike will resume.

The group linked the decision to Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa’s visit to Washington this week.

Bahrain’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.

The monthlong hunger strike had been of the longest sustained demonstrations of dissent in the decade since Bahrain, aided by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, violently suppressed its 2011 Arab Spring protests.

Maryam al-Khawaja, the daughter of the long-detained human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, plans to travel to Bahrain in the coming days with activists including the head of Amnesty International. She plans to advocate for her father’s release, though she herself faces prison time in Bahrain, the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf.