She said she would continue to fight the legislation, which gives security forces wide powers to search, enter property and shoot on sight in parts of remote Manipur state, northeastern India.
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Ms Sharmila had been protesting against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which gives soldiers sweeping powers to arrest without warrants and even shoot to kill in certain situations.
The law Sharmila has fasted in opposition to is the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which grants the Indian military special powers in what it regards as disturbed areas.
“The act prohibits soldiers from being prosecuted for alleged rights violations except with express permission from the federal government”.
The Iron lady of Manipur, Irom Chanu Sharmila is going to end her 16 years long fast today.
Soon after Sharmila’s hunger strike began, she was arrested under an Indian law that makes attempting suicide illegal and was detained in a hospital room. But I don’t see her playing a really big role as a politician. Talking about threats from radical groups over her decision to join politics, she said, “I don’t understand why some radical groups are against my joining politics”.
India’s hunger-striking activist Irom Sharmila addresses a press conference after a court appearance in Imphal in the north-eastern state of Manipur, India, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016.
She has been fed through a tube since 2000.
Court proceedings had began at 11:15 am, and at 11: 45 am, court officials reportedly said that the proceedings will go on for another hour.
Her long hunger strike garnered support from across the world, and Amnesty International has called her a prisoner of conscience.
“I have been fasting for the last 16 years”. For years, she has exchanged letters with Desmond Coutinho, a Goa-based British citizen who has also met her.
She has so far rejected allegations that she was trying to commit suicide, and maintained that she is on a hunger strike to demand the withdrawal of AFSPA.
“The Iron Lady of Manipur” continued to be force-fed until Tuesday afternoon, when a judge granted her release and – tube removed – she licked honey from her hand.
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After the massacre, Sharmila chose to go on a hunger strike until AFSPA was repealed.
