Ammon News - By Amal Ghabayen

AMMONNEWS - The young activist who is serving a prison sentence for burning a banner with king Abdullah II's picture in Madaba last January went into a hunger strike earlier this week in protest of harsh treatment in prison.

The father of 18-year old pro-reform activist Odai Abu Issa told Ammon News that his son went into a hunger strike in protest of harsh treatment in Al Muwaqqar prison where he was placed in solitary confinement.

The father noted that his son was beaten and abused in the prison, and is being force-fed and pressured to end his hunger strike.

On January 26, Abu Issa was sentenced to two-year prison sentence by the State Security Court after over charges of "harming the King's dignity."

The military tribunal's charges were brought against 18-year old Abu Issa for torching a poster of the King's picture that was placed above the Madaba municipality building during a pro-reform protest earlier in January, a charge that denotes lèse majesté.

Human Rights watchdog agencies expressed concern over claims that Abu Issa was beaten by police in a detention center following his arrest earlier in January.

Abu Issa's attorney, Musa Abdullat denounced the sentence, blasting it as unfair. The attorney said that the military tribunal did not consider the young man's age and other circumstances for his action, considerations that would have been taken if Abu Issa was tried by a civil court, according to his expression.