Asylum seekers hospitalized

Sun, 15 Aug 2004 | Source: AP

INDONESIA: Nearly a dozen Afghan asylum seekers have been hospitalized following a hunger strike in which some stitched their mouths shut to protest the United Nations' refusal to grant them refugee status, officials said on Saturday.

A total of 39 migrants launched the hunger strike on Tuesday, after living in legal limbo for more than two years in a hostel in Bogor on the southern outskirts of Jakarta.

"They were getting very weak and that is why we brought them to the hospital," said Steve Cook, chief of mission for the International Organization for Migration in Jakarta. "I think they will be OK... but the hunger strike will not affect their status." -- AP

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