Asylum-seekers end Denmark hunger strike

A 2-week hunger strike by 30 asylum-seekers in Denmark ended Thursday with an agreement an ombudsman would review their cases, the Copenhagen Post reports.

The group began its hunger strike March 5 to protest the long period of time required to process requests for asylum as well as their detention in the center's secured ward.

Two of the strikers also attempted suicide as a part of their protest.

Parliamentary ombudsman Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen met with the strikers and told them they must now gather and organize enough material to warrant a formal complaint.

Several of the asylum seekers held in the secured ward told the newspaper they consider themselves political prisoners, including one 21-year-old Iranian who claimed he had been kept in a high security cell for nine months.

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