Dubai: Since April 24, hundreds of women who were incarcerated in a high-security prison in Iraq after being found guilty of joining Daesh are reportedly on hunger strike.

According to the BBC, at least 400 female inmates in Baghdad's notorious Rusafa prison, who are serving sentences ranging from 15 years to life, are reportedly refusing food in protest of their convictions and the deplorable conditions in the facility.

The women, who are from a variety of nations, including Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Syria, France, Germany, and the United States, claim that their trials were unfair. Around 100 kids are reportedly detained in the prison, according to media reports.

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Thousands of the group's male members are thought to have been killed after Daesh was overthrown in 2017, while the women and children were held captive. While some were returned to their home countries, many are still in prison.

Some of the female prisoners, according to media reports, received death sentences at their trials, but there haven't been any executions to date.
According to BBC Arabic, it was able to obtain videos taken inside the Rusafa prison that showed emaciated-appearing women resting or sleeping on the stone floors. The video also shows children, many of whom are believed to have been born inside the prison.

According to the BBC, some prisoners have now completely stopped eating and drinking after initially only managing to survive on half a glass of water per day when the hunger strike started.

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According to reports, a Russian prisoner serving a 15-year sentence has vowed to go without food until her release. She claimed that her conviction came after a brief trial that lasted less than ten minutes, and that it was based on a confession she had been forced to sign in Arabic, a language she is unable to read or speak.

 It allegedly claimed that she had been found with weapons in Mosul, a claim she disputes. BBC was unable to confirm her claims.

The women claim that most of their trials lacked diplomatic representation and that they were denied access to their countries' embassies.

According to prisoners surveyed by the BBC, 30 juvenile inmates and 60 adult inmates have died in the prison over the past six years. They claimed that they were kept in cells with 40 people and frequently subjected to beatings and other cruel treatment.

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The prison's director was fired last month by Iraq's Ministry of Justice, who gave the excuse of "leaked audio" from the establishment while also admitting that there were four times as many prisoners as there were spaces available.

When questioned by the BBC about the hunger strike or the conditions in the prisons, the Iraqi government declined to comment