FIVE activists who claim to have been tortured in Iraqi Kurdistan have started a hunger strike as they demanded to meet lawyers and representatives from the United Nations today.

Mihemed Naci Sadiq, a member of the opposition Goran Movement, was detained on December 9 in the Shiladze district of Duhok province, which is currently under severe bombardment from Turkish jets.

Five days later Kovan Tariq Cibrail, Yusuf Sharif Ibrahim, Ahmed Yusuf Mistefa, and Nechirvan Bedih Haci were also taken into custody and have been held for the past 17 months without trial.