Al-Arian collapses at jail

He was on the 23rd day of a hunger strike.

By MEG LAUGHLIN
Published February 16, 2007

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Sami Al-Arian, who has been on a hunger strike since mid January, collapsed this week in a Virginia jail.

At daybreak Tuesday, guards discovered him lying unconscious on the concrete floor of a shower room in the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va., and called for medical help, according to Nahla Al-Arian, his wife.

It was the 23rd day of a hunger strike during which he had consumed water only.

Al-Arian was transported Tuesday to a federal corrections medical facility in Butner, N.C. Officials there would not comment on his condition.

Al-Arian is on a hunger strike to protest being held in jail beyond his sentence for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. In May, as part of a plea agreement, he was convicted of aiding associates of a terrorist group in nonviolent ways.

Researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.