Six hunger strikers in an Australian immigration centre on the Pacific island of Nauru have been taken to hospital. They were taken ill as the protest against their detention entered a fifth day.
Another 18 men are also refusing food and water, and four of the protesters have sewn their lips together.
Australia has one of the world's strictest immigration policies, detaining all asylum seekers and illegal workers in high-security camps.
Immigration officials said that the six taken to hospital were in a stable condition.
They said that a seventh detainee had also been treated, but had been returned to the centre where he had rejoined the hunger strike.
Twenty three of the protesters are from Afghanistan and one is from Pakistan.
They are currently among about 280 asylum seekers being held on Nauru.
Australia runs a second offshore detention centre for would-be immigrants in Papua New Guinea, and it also has five centres within its own borders.
There have been a string of hunger strikes and protests in the camps, which together house about 1,200 people.
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