Shoe bomber on hunger strike is force-fed

(AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Richard Reid, the so-called shoe-bomber who was convicted in 2003 of attempting to blow up a transatlantic airliner and who has been on hunger strike since March, is being force-fed.

Reid, from Bromley in Kent, is being held at a "Supermax" prison south of Denver, Colorado, that is home to other convicted terrorists including Ramzi Youssef, who was found guilty of plotting the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

A first court filing by US government lawyers on 14 April asserted that Reid, 35, had by that date refused 58 meals and that medical staff were already intervening to feed and hydrate him forcibly. His condition only became public, however, with the submission of an update to the court last Friday, which said he remained on hunger strike and was continuing to be treated.

The US prison service has declined to comment on the reasons behind Reid's hunger strike, but it is known that he has attempted to sue the US government for allegedly preventing him from properly observing the tenets of his Sunni Muslim faith while behind bars.