Three Kurdish prisoners on hunger strike for 50 days in an eastern Turkish jail were hospitalised by authorities yesterday after their condition became critical, the Anatolia news agency said.
The three were near death when the director of the Erzurum prison ordered medical intervention, it said. Their condition is reported to have improved since they were hospitalised.
Dozens of political prisoners at the Erzurum prison, located some 1,000 km east of Istanbul, have been on hunger strike since mid-November to protest against poor prison conditions.
Most of them are convicted members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has been waging a separatist campaign in south-east Turkey since 1984. At least 28,000 people have been killed in the armed conflict.
The rest of the hunger strikers are members of left-wing organisations.
Mr Akin Birdal, head of Turkey's Human Rights Association, warned on Wednesday that at least six of the hunger strikers were in critical condition. He asked the Justice Minister, Mr Oltan Sungurlu, to find a way to satisfy the strikers and end the strike.
Twelve left-wingers died in July 1996 after fasting for more than 60 days in several Turkish prisons.