LOMBOK, Indonesia, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Seven Afghan men who failed to reach Australia by boat have begun a hunger strike in Indonesia, and three of them have sewn their lips shut.
The men, staying in a hotel on the Indonesian island of Lombok, stopped eating two days ago after the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) completed a second review of their cases ruling they were not eligible for asylum in a third country, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday.
Another Afghan from the same group said the men were on a boat that was boarded and driven away from Ashmore Reef by Australian Navy officers in 2001.
The UNHCR has granted refugee status to 215 Afghans in Indonesia over the past few years but has refused to examine the cases of the seven hunger strikers any further until they end the strike.
Three of them have sewn their lips together.
Indonesia still hosts several hundred asylum seekers, many from Iraq and Afghanistan, who attempted to use the country as a transit point.
