Fasting detainees refuse treatment

Two Batticaloa prison detainees who had been fasting and were taken to hospital in a critical condition returned to the prison yesterday refusing medical treatment, police said.  They said the two were among 18 detainees staging a fast unto death campaign demanding the release of suspected LTTE detainees held in prisons islandwide.  Meanwhile, a similar fast continuing at the Kalutara prison took a new turn after police said the condition of fourteen of them was critical and they were vomiting blood.  However, Prison authorities denied those reports.  Some 13 of the 139 detainees at the Kalutara prison had mounted the prison roof, police said.

The detainees said they would not abandon their fast unless a meeting was arrange with Minister Milinda Moragoda.