Seattle, November 28 (RHC)-- In the U.S. state of Washington, a Russian asylum seeker held at the Northwest Detention Center has died.  Forty-year-old Amar Mergansana had been on hunger strike for 86 days when he was transferred to a hospital earlier this month after losing consciousness. 

Mergansana arrived in the U.S. last December via the U.S.-Mexico border and was taken into ICE custody.  He began his hunger strike to protest conditions at the Northwest Detention Center -- which is run by for-profit prison company GEO Group -- and his possible deportation.  The group Northwest Detention Center Resistance is demanding an investigation into his death.