Hunger striker wants a fair trial

Craig Alden refused to be taken to hospital on Monday

A charity worker who is on hunger strike in Brazil after being jailed for child abuse says he is not asking for his freedom - just a fair trial.

On Monday Craig Alden, 36, of Warboys, Cambs, said he was weakening by the minute on the 28th day of his protest.

He insisted he would not eat anything until he was promised a fair trial.

He refused to be taken to hospital from the prison in Planaltina, near the capital Brasilia, where he is serving an 11-year term for abusing children.

Alden said he never presented a defence in his trial after his lawyer missed a deadline to file a statement.

I'm asking for a fair trial, a chance to put my defence forward, to show to the world that I am innocent Craig Alden

He claims he was framed by officials after he refused to go along with what he alleged was corruption.

"I'm feeling rotten," he told the BBC on Monday. "I've got pains up and down my back and arms. It feels like my eyeballs are down on my cheeks. But it's worth it - I can't live in a tiny cell like this for the rest of my life."

Alden moved to Brazil to work among the street children, helping to build and run an orphanage.

In 2002 he was jailed for 48 years - later reduced to 11 - for abusing children.

"I'm not asking for my freedom - I'm asking for a fair trial, a chance to put my defence forward, to show to the world that I am innocent and that will lead to my freedom, hopefully," said Alden.

An independent QC sent from Britain by the Foreign Office to investigate the case concluded he had not been treated fairly.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said it had been doing all it could to help Alden.

"The case is being raised regularly at every level. We keep on raising it, we've also asked the Brazilians to respond to the report from the independent QC," she said.