Hunger-striking Chilean activist rushed to hospital
By Richard Reynolds
Posted Tue Dec 25, 2007 5:46pm AEDT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/25/2127235.htm?section=world

An indigenous Mapuche Indian from Chile has been taken to hospital
after
75 days on a hunger strike.

Patricia Troncoso is near death, according to a hospital spokesperson.

She was more than three years into a 10-year sentence on charges of
terrorism.

Her crime was to set a small fire at a commercial tree farm that
Troncoso says is on traditional Mapuche land.

The military tribunals that convicted Troncoso and five others were
widely criticised.

Human Rights Watch says they were staged under a law that dates back to

the Pinochet dictatorship.

Witnesses had their faces covered and voices altered and only limited
cross-examination was allowed.

Five Mapuche began the hunger strike in October; three gave up last
week.

Another Mapuche man is expected to join Troncoso in the hospital within

days.

Kolectivo We Newen