General News of Thursday, 22 November 2001

Source: .

Odinga on hunger strike

Hamid Odinga, the Belize national arrested on June 9 by the security agencies at the precincts of ex-President Jerry Rawlings’ Ridge residence is on hunger strike.

He started his hunger strike a few days ago and is determined to continue or die unless he is freed from the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) custody. Sources available to the paper say the Belize national, an old pal of ex-president Rawlings and invited into the country by him (Rawlings), was initially accused of planning an assassination of the former President but was put before an Osu court in Accra for being an illegal immigrant.

Odinga, according to sources, is on hunger strike as a ‘prisoner of conscience’ because he considers all charges against him as mere fabrications and ridiculous. The Osu court, reportedly does not know what to charge him with. Sources said at a time, a deportation order was slapped on him but since he has no document the authorities do not know where to take him to.