St. Petersburg Times
March 1, 2007
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BUTNER, N.C.

Sami Al-Arian passed the 38th day of his prison hunger strike
Wednesday.

The former Univeristy of South Florida professor has lost 43 pounds
and was having great difficulty standing up in a federal prison
hospital in Butner, N.C.

“We will intervene. We will not let him die,” said Federal Bureau of
Prisons spokeswoman Traci Billingsley. But as of Wednesday afternoon,
no intervention to force feed Al-Arian, 49, had taken place.

He is drinking only water to protest being held beyond his sentence
for refusing to testify before a Virginia grand jury. After pleading
guilty in May to aiding associates of a terrorist group in nonviolent
ways he was due to be released in mid-April and deported. Unless he
agrees to testify, he could be held another 18 months.