Reports from Djibouti say an Ethiopian prisoner has died after joining a hunger strike by more than two-hundred inmates, including several groups of political prisoners.

Correspondents say the man, Mohammed Adan Ibrahim, who was arrested on charges of forging banknotes, is believed to have suffered a heart attack.

Justice ministry officials said several groups of political prisoners, including forty supporters of the Afar rebel movement Frud, began the hunger strike last Thursday in protest against prison conditions.

They were joined by other inmates who want the authorities to speed up their trials.