Monday, May 14, 2007

Jailed Terror Suspects hold Hunger strike

May 14, 2007 04:30 AM

Staff Reporter

The Canadian terrorism suspects being held at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex began a hunger strike yesterday after one of their co-accused claimed he was beaten by jailhouse staff, say several relatives.

The incident, they say, began when Steven Chand was allegedly told by a guard that his time in the shower was up. Chand claimed he still had soap in his hair but was pulled from the shower, beaten and dragged, crying and screaming, to his cell.

According to relatives, Chand told his co-accused what had occurred before he was "thrown into the hole," said Cheryfa MacAulay Jamal, wife of one of the accused.

"My husband saw (Chand) being dragged by the hair," she said, recounting what Abdul Qayyum Jamal told her on the phone. "He said (Chand) had a bruise on his head and was asking to see the doctor."

The men were among 18 adults and youths arrested last year, and alleged to be part of a homegrown terrorism cell plotting to bomb several targets in southern Ontario.

Maplehurst staff would not comment.

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