Forty-five prisoners at the central prison in Arish, North Sinai, have begun a hunger strike to protest being detained without trial.
In a phone call with Al-Masry Al-Youm, one inmate said they will continue the strike until they are set free. He urged the general prosecutor to impose justice which, he said, has been long absent from Sinai.
Security authorities in Egypt have been conducting investigations of 62 suspects allegedly involved in bombings at Sinai resorts. The suspects are facing charges of premeditated murder, the manufacture of explosives, damaging public property and affiliation with a banned organization.
Egypt's state security says terrorist group al-Tawhid wal-Jihad was behind the explosions that hit the Sinai resorts of Taba, (which is close to Israeli borders) on 7 October 2004, Sharm el-Sheikh on 23 July 2005, and Dahab on 24 April 2006.
In November 2006, the Supreme State Security Court in Ismailia sentenced three Egyptians to death and ten to prison after convicting them of taking part in the Taba bombings.
