VANCOUVER (CP) - Mary Braun, 63 - one of two Sons of Freedom Doukhobor women who are in the 56th day of a hunger strike to protest their prison sentences for arson - is near death, a doctor says.

"Some of her internal organs haven't had a chance to rebuild after the last fast two years ago," said Dr. Doug Roberts of Victoria, who helped force-feed Braun, Mary Astaforoff and Tina Zmaeff during a 1983 hunger strike that lasted 35 days.

Braun and Zmaeff, 59, have taken only fruit juice since Oct. 7. They were sentenced in August to seven years for burning a house near Grand Forks, B.C.

VANCOUVER (CP) - Mary Braun, 63 - one of two Sons of Freedom Doukhobor women who are in the 56th day of a hunger strike to protest their prison sentences for arson - is near death, a doctor says.

"Some of her internal organs haven't had a chance to rebuild after the last fast two years ago," said Dr. Doug Roberts of Victoria, who helped force-feed Braun, Mary Astaforoff and Tina Zmaeff during a 1983 hunger strike that lasted 35 days.

Braun was suffering from dehydration but was lucid and alert when she was admitted to Vancouver General Hospital on Saturday, a Matsqui Prison official said.

Astaforoff, 71, died Nov. 24 after a 59-day fast. She was serving a 10-year jail term for setting a fire that destroyed four buildings at the Doukhobor Museum in Castlegar, B.C.

Braun and Zmaeff, 59, have taken only fruit juice since Oct. 7. They were sentenced in August to seven years for burning a house near Grand Forks, B.C.

Blindness come first

Most hunger strikers go blind after about 60 days and then quickly die, Roberts said, adding that if prison officials hope to save the women by force-feeding them, it must be done right away.

Matsqui Prison spokesman Tom D'Aquino said Braun would receive "some form of medical attention" at Vancouver General Hospital, but he wouldn't say if that meant forcing her to eat.

The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in 1983 it had no power to order prison officials to force-feed Astoforoff.

Dr. Gerald Karr, president of the B.C. Medical Association, said yesterday his association is against forced feeding but that the patient's doctor would have to make the decision.

The Sons of Freedom is the smallest of three Doukhobor sects. The largest - the 5,000-member Orthodox group - has often been the target of Freedomite bombings and arson attacks.

The approximately 800 members of the Reformed group are former Freedomites who have renounced the violence and public nudity of the Freedomites.