Fed: Eleven more Nauru detainees join hunger strike

AAP General News (Australia)
12-14-2003
Fed: Eleven more Nauru detainees join hunger strike

Eleven more asylum seekers have joined the hunger strike on Nauru, saying they want
to be released from detention or die.

ELAINE SMITH, of Rural Australians for Refugees, says the asylum seekers, including
a diabetic, have joined the nine detainees who began a hunger strike on Wednesday.

Ms SMITH yesterday said a spokesman on Nauru has told her another detainee has collapsed.

She says three of the asylum seekers collapsed from heat exhaustion on Friday and were
given intravenous fluids, but she fears some could die by next week.

Four of the original hunger strikers have sewn their lips together.

In an email to Ms SMITH, the detainees -- eight Afghanis and one Pakistani -- say they've
joined the protest because they have no other option.

About 280 asylum seekers, including 93 children, are being processed on Nauru as part
of the federal government's so-called Pacific solution.

An immigration department spokesman says the department believes 10 people have joined
the hunger strike.

AAP RTV ce/svm/jas/wz

KEYWORD: REFUGEES (MELBOURNE)

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