 Irom Sharmila: World's longest running hunger striker charged with trying to commit suicide BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Activist Irom Sharmila, a woman from India’s north-east who has been force-fed for the past 12 years, was flown to Delhi so that a judge could charge her with trying to commit suicide. "I love life. I do not want to take my life but I want justice and peace.” 
 
 The activist known as the Iron Lady of Manipur launched her fast in November 2000 to protest over the killing of a group of civilians by paramilitary forces and to demand the repeal of legislation that provides effective immunity to soldiers. Since then she has refused to eat, drink or even brush her teeth with water. Refusing to end her fast until the so-called Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) is withdrawn from all of Manipur, she has been repeatedly detained and fed twice a day by a tube attached to her nose.
– The last time Irom Sharmila ate a meal by her own hand was Nov. 4, 2000. In the 12-plus years since, the 40-year-old Indian known as the "Iron Lady" has been on a hunger strike to protest India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which gives the military wide-ranging rights in restive regions and which human rights groups say has been used to torture and kill suspected rebels with impunity. She was arrested three days after that last meal and has been force-fed twice daily via a nose tube ever since—and yesterday, she was charged with attempted suicide, the AP reports. Since her arrest, the government has been releasing her once every year, then taking her back into custody when she continues to refuse to eat—the Belfast Telegraph notes that she won't even use water to brush her teeth. The attempted suicide charge stems from a 2006 arrest at a New Delhi protest and subsequent hospitalization. In the hands of India's slow system, the incident has finally made its way in front of the court; it carries a sentence of up to one year in prison. "I will continue my fast until the Special Powers Act is withdrawn," she said yesterday at a court appearance as supporters outside demanded the act be repealed. "I love life. I do not want to take my life, but I want justice and peace."