Fehriye Erdal resumed her 33-day hunger strike after...

Fehriye Erdal resumed her 33-day hunger strike after suspending it for one day. She had been on hunger strike since July 14, and was determined to continue it until she was released. Although the Belgian government had opted not to extradite her to Turkey, the Interior Minister Antoine Duquesne decided to keep her in prison for the "national security of Belgium". Erdal's application for political asylum was rejected on July 10, and she was ordered to leave the country on July 25. However the Belgian Council of State suspended both decisions. On August 4, the President of the Belgian League of Human Rights, Dan Van Raemdonck, wrote to the Interior Minister, requesting him to "put an end to this arbitrary detention, since expulsion from Belgium is not possible without particularly grave risks." The UN High Commissioner for Refugees had also expressed the opinion that Erdal cannot be sent to Turkey or to another country. That would be contrary to article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights.