´óÏó´«Ã½

About 20 dissident republicans at Maghaberry Prison are refusing meals.

They are protesting over one prisoner, Dr Issam Bassalat, being held in a Covid-19 isolation area in a separate part of the jail.

He was placed there on Tuesday after returning from Craigavon Area Hospital.

It has been prison policy since March that anyone entering the jail is isolated for 14 days as a precaution due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Prison Service said it does not comment on individual prisoners.

In a statement it added: "A number of processes are in place to mitigate the risk of infecting the wider prisoner population.

"This includes placing prisoners entering prison from the community, which may also include those returning from hospital visits, in isolation for 14 days.

"This is for their safety and the safety of the general prisoner population."

Dissident republican prisoners occupy two landings of Roe House, away from other inmates.

The Covid-19 isolation area is in a different part of the prison, Foyle House.

Dr Bassalat, who is from Edinburgh and was arrested at Heathrow airport in August, started refusing prison meals on Tuesday evening and the other prisoners joined from Wednesday.

Dr Bassalat one of 10 people arrested as part of a major operation against the New IRA and is remanded in custody on a charge of preparatory acts of terrorism.

Dissident republicans have not previously protested against being held in isolation as part of the prison's coronavirus protocols.

The chairman of the justice committee at Stormont, Paul Givan of the DUP, described the protest as "absurd" and one which will be "ridiculed by the public."

He added the prison was right to stick to its isolation procedures.