Jakarta – Twenty six East Timorese political prisoners ended on Monday their two-week long hunger strike to press for the release of armed resistance leader Xanana Gusmao and other political prisoners in their occupied homeland, according to Jakarta's official news agency, Antara. The news agency based its report on information given by the warden of Dili's 'Becora' prison, Mayun Mataram.

The prisoners had launched their hunger strike on 1 September. The hunger strikers' main demand was the release of Xanana Gusmao, who has served a 20-year sentence at Cipinang prison on the outskirts of Jakarta since 1992. Mataram was quoted as saying by Antara that the prisoners' demand had meanwhile been forwarded to the Indonesian ministry of justice in Jakarta.

There are currently at least 89 political prisoners in East Timor, according to independent human rights observers.