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On the eighth day of a hunger strike, Sami Al-Arian was moved today to the Federal Medical Center at Butner, N.C.

“He was wheeled out because of his condition, after going without food or water for so long,” said Maj. Ted Hull, superintendent of the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va.

On Monday, a doctor examined Al-Arian at Northern Neck and said he was “severely dehydrated,” which prompted U.S. Marshals to arrange the move to Butner.

Al-Arian is refusing food and water to protest being incarcerated a year beyond his release date because he refuses to testify before a grand jury in Virginia about an Islamic think tank.

Convicted of aiding associates of a terrorist group with nonviolent activities, Al-Arian’s release date was in April 2007, but repeated grand jury subpoenas have kept him behind bars.

Last week, he was subpoenaed for a third time, which canceled his deferred release date next month. He could be held until 2009, and then subpoenaed again.

“He began the hunger strike because there is nothing else he can do to protest the continued abuse,” said his son Abdullah.

A judge has supported prosecutors’ contentions that Al-Arian’s sentence does not protect him from being forced to testify.