TURKEY: A Turkish woman who refused solid food for 250 days has died, becoming the 54th person to starve to death in a mass protest which began almost two years ago, a human rights group said.
Melek Birsen Hosver (32) died in an Ankara hospital becoming the 13th person to die in the protest this year, a spokeswoman at the Human Rights Association (IHD) told Reuters.
Hosver was serving a 12-year sentence for membership of a left-wing underground group, the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), which is seen as the mastermind of the protest.
Hunger strikers have prolonged their lives - and their protest - by ingesting sugared and salted water and vitamins.
Hundreds of leftist prisoners and dozens of their supporters began the hunger strike in October 2000 to protest against the Turkish government's plans to move inmates to cell-based prisons from large dormitory-style jails.
Protesters have argued the new penitentiaries isolate inmates, putting them at risk of police brutality in a country where allegations of torture are rife.
Ankara says the new prisons meet European standards and are aimed at easing an overcrowded system that has seen sporadic prison riots.
Political and criminal gangs often run wards beyond the control of authorities.
European Union officials have urged Turkey to do more to end the hunger strike, but Turkish authorities have said they will not negotiate with prisoners whom they deem "terrorists".
Apart from those who have starved to death, four prisoners burned themselves to death in support of the strike.
Thirty prisoners and two soldiers died in December 2000 when security forces raided prisons to quell the protest. Four people died last year when police entered an Istanbul neighbourhood where hunger strikers carried out their protest.
Support for the strike has faded in the face of Ankara's tough stance and about 30 inmates linked to the DHKP-C are currently fasting.
The death toll from the strike includes both prisoners and outside supporters of the movement.