Egyptian protests with hunger strike in Charleston jail

The Associated Press

ST. LOUIS -- An Egyptian man, jailed by federal authorities in September, has started a hunger strike to protest his detention in Southeast Missouri.

The man, Osama El Far, 30, was working as a mechanic at Lambert Airport in St. Louis before he was detained Sept. 24.

El Far was held after another mechanic at the commuter airline where he worked said he allegedly called terrorist Osama bin Laden a role model, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. El Far denies making that comment.

El Far has admitted to being in the country illegally by staying longer than his visa allowed, but he has denied any connection to the Sept. 11 attacks and said that he has cooperated with investigators.

A judge has granted El Far's request to leave the country voluntarily. However, El Far continues to be held without bail at the Mississippi County Jail in Missouri's Bootheel region, with an uncertain departure date.

Dorothy Harper, a Clayton lawyer who represents El Far, said Sunday that he started a hunger strike Friday. The day was supposed to be his voluntary departure date from the United States, Harper said. "There is a problem with getting him out of the United States, and I haven't figured out exactly what it is."

Guard Diane Kelly confirmed Sunday that El Far had refused to eat meals at the jail since Friday morning. Food was being taken regularly to the area where El Far and a few other inmates share dining space.

"He has access to food 24 hours a day," Kelly said.

El Far came to the United States from Egypt on a student visa in 1996. He quit school and went to work for Trans States Airline in January 1998. When he was detained, he was living in an apartment in University City, a St. Louis suburb.

Immigration and Naturalization Service agents will escort El Far aboard his flight whenever he is allowed to leave the United States, Harper said.