DHAKA, May 17 (Reuters) - Several thousand supporters and activists attended a mass prayer near a special prison in the Bangladesh capital on Saturday to press for the release of jaled former prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

A heavy contingent of riot police cordoned off the special prison at the sprawling parliament compound with barbed wire and prevented the activists from marching towards the building.

Police and activists jostled, but no serious incidents were reported.

"Oh Allah, be gracious and kind enough to ensure release of our leader Sheikh Hasina from the clutches of the impolitic forces," a prayer leader chanted.

Street protests and rallies are banned under a state of emergency in place since the army-backed interim government took charge in January 2007 following political violence.

Hasina's Awami League arranged the prayer to mark her return in 1981 from exile in India, where she took refuge after her father, Bangladesh's independence leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, was killed along with most of his family in a coup in 1975.

The interim administration detained over 170 key political figures, including Hasina and her chief rival, former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, for corruption.

(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed; Editing by David Fox)

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