ATHENS, Nov 14 (AFP) - The jailed leader of Greece's extremist November 17 group, Alexandros Giotopoulos, was rushed to hospital in critical condition Sunday almost a month after beginning a hunger strike, ANA news agency reported.
Giotopoulos, 60, who began his hunger strike on October 16, had been sentenced to life in prison in December last year.
Six members of November 17, which carried out 23 political assassinations between 1975 and 2000 as well as a number of bombings and robberies, are being held in a special underground section of Athens' Korydallos prison, apart from the other inmates.
They are demanding an end to their isolation and access to the jail's communal courtyard.
On Wednesday Giotopoulos' lawyer, Yannis Rahiotis, met with Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras to press his client's demands.
Giotopoulos' French companion, Maite Peynaud, who attended the meeting, said that he was in critical condition.
Giotopoulos went on a hunger strike after the group's convicted chief operative Dimitris Koufontinas and three other jailed November 17 militants started refusing food on September 18.
But the three co-detainees suspended their movement in October after the government agreed to take off barbed wire which covered the prison courtyard.
11/14/2004 21:18 GMT - AFP