Prisoner collapses during hunger strike

NORFOLK, Va., Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A prisoner hunger striking to protest being held beyond his sentence at a regional jail in Warsaw, Va., has collapsed.

Sami Al-Arian, who is being held beyond his sentence for aiding associates of a terrorist group in non-violent ways because he refused to testify before a grand jury, collapsed on his 23rd day of consuming only water, the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Friday.

Officials at the federal corrections medical facility in Butner, N.C., where Al-Arian was taken after collapsing would not comment on his condition, the Times said.