Havana, May 15 (RHC)-- On Saturday, May 13th Radio Havana Cuba's Ricardo Oliva visited the Palestinian Embassy here in Havana, where Palestinian students living in Cuba staged a sit-in in support of the Palestinian prisoners behind bars in Israel. 

Palestinian Ambassador Mohamad Akram Samhan explained that there are more than 1,800 Palestinian political prisoners who started a hunger strike a month ago to demand their rights.   Some 30 people showed up at the Embassy for the sit-in in support of the prisoners' rights.  The prisoners on hunger strike are basically demanding better conditions and have only been drinking water and salt, for almost a month now. 

They want access to the library, family visits, better conditions for younger prisioners, just simple human rights, because the situation for them there gets worse every day. 

Palestinian student Miriam Ahmed, who took part in the sit-in here in Havana, was passionate about the need for better conditions for her compatriots behind bars in Israel.  She noted that the prisoners are demanding very basic rights -- including two visits per month for their families instead of one, and permission for their relatives to cross the check points to visit them.   They are not asking for their liberation, said Miriam, only for their rights as prisoners -- the same rights that are ensured for prisoners in other countries around the world.

Many of the striking prisoners are running the risk of death, and the Ambassador says that this is a fight which the prisoners are going to continue waging. 

The Palestinian Embassy here in Havana decided to join in the support, just like many other Palestinian organizations around the world are doing, to raise awareness of their cause.