'Carlos the Jackal' on strike
2004-11-30 13:55
Paris - The terrorist known as Carlos the Jackal is again refusing food to protest against conditions in prison, where he is serving a life sentence, one of his lawyers said on Tuesday.
The Venezuelan, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, stopped eating last Wednesday and said he will continue the strike "as long as necessary", attorney Isabelle Coutant Peyre said by telephone.
She said he is protesting being kept in isolation,
"provocative and unjustifiable" body and cell searches, and authorities' refusal to let him access his prison bank account for food and other necessities.
He is imprisoned at a high-security prison in Fresnes, a southern suburb of Paris.
In May, Ramirez went on hunger strike for two days to protest against being moved to a new cell.
Ramirez gained international notoriety during the Cold War for a string of deadly bombings, assassinations and hostage seizures.
He is also suspected of involvement in the 1976 Palestinian hijacking of a French jetliner.
French intelligence agents apprehended Ramirez in Sudan in 1994 and brought him back to Paris, where he was convicted for the 1975 murders of two French secret agents and an alleged informer.
- AP