TURKEY : Raid Threatened to End Hunger Strike

The government threatened to storm an Istanbul prison unless 2,000 leftist inmates end a 2-month-old nationwide hunger strike that has left eight prisoners dead and about 100 critically ill. The number of strikers tripled when 4,000 Kurdish prisoners joined in solidarity. The inmates allege widespread abuses at the prisons and are demanding better access to legal defense and medical treatment. Justice Minister Sevket Kazan refused to negotiate an end to the strike. Prisoners, existing on water or sugar water for 68 days, have not allowed medical teams inside the prisons.