Former Canberra hunger striker Isa Islam has had his short-lived parole revoked after he barricaded himself in a room at the Canberra Hospital on Wednesday afternoon, forcing the intervention of police negotiators.
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Islam, who had his 46th birthday while refusing food in hospital, may now face fresh charges after police were called to the hospital after 3.30pm yesterday.
Specialist police negotiators spent several hours talking to Islam on Wednesday until a peaceful settlement was negotiated about 7.10pm.
At a bedside hearing in Canberra hospital on Thursday morning, a reportedly calm Islam did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.
It's understood he has been found fit to return to the Alexander Maconochie Centre, and will leave the hospital, possibly as soon as Thursday afternoon.
He is due to go before the Sentence Administration Board on March 26.
The board has issued a warrant for a breach of parole for public safety reasons.
Islam previously had been in the hospital's intensive care unit for more than a week receiving treatment.
While he was in intensive care in bed 14, the hospital consistently refused to provide The Canberra Times with access to Islam on the grounds that he was too unwell to receive visitors.
However, the former Alexander Maconochie Centre detainee recovered sufficiently on Wednesday to barricade himself inside a room and prevent the intervention of hospital staff and police.
Isa Islam was granted parole on the 75th day of his hunger strike, which he undertook to highlight his human rights grievances with the ACT prison system. He has 10 specific matters against the Justice and Community Safety directorate, which he will take to the ACT Supreme Court in April.
It is not known when Islam finally ended his hunger strike, although his campaign well exceeded the known recorded previous Australian campaign of 80 days.
The Canberra Hospital consistently refused to provide details of his ongoing condition on the basis of patient privacy.
Islam was originally imprisoned after a frenzied stabbing attack on his neighbour at the Ainslie shops in 2009. That attack left his victim a quadriplegic.
Islam's sentence was extended in 2015 after he attacked a fellow prisoner. That victim required facial reconstruction and spent a month in hospital.
He began refusing food, drinking only water, from December 9. On January 10 he was transferred from prison to Canberra Hospital.
While in hospital, he rebuffed numerous entreaties to end his hunger strike. Human rights commissioner Dr Helen Watchirs and Public Advocate Jodie Griffiths-Cook met with him on February 1 but could not reach a resolution.
The Canberra Times interviewed Islam on January 31. An interview was also sought at the time with ACT Corrections boss Jon Peach, but this was refused by the Justice and Community Safety directorate. Islam had been strongly insistent that only a meeting between himself and Mr Peach could provide a resolution to the hunger strike.
The ACT government had consistently maintained there was no legal basis for forcing the detainee to eat in the absence of a court or tribunal order.
Once Islam was granted parole, his ongoing care then fell to ACT Health. Reports of his condition were consistently sought, but ACT Health said it could not provide them on the basis of patient privacy.
