Mary Braun, 67, and Tina Jmaeff, 63, stopped eating Aug. 18 to protest the eight-year prison terms for arson they were serving in Matsqui medium-security prison in the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver. Both women have lengthy records for arson and both have gone on numerous hunger strikes. They were convicted of setting fire to a house in April 1985.

Along with fellow Freedomite Mary Astaforoff, Braun and Jmaeff were granted federal pardons in 1983 following a lengthy hunger strike.

Freedomites, members of a radical group of zealots who broke with mainstream Doukhobors in 1902, use arson and public nudity to demonstrate their religious beliefs.

VANCOUVER (CP) - Two elderly Sons of Freedom women broke a 107-day fast Wednesday after the National Parole Board had granted them day parole.

Mary Braun, 67, and Tina Jmaeff, 63, stopped eating Aug. 18 to protest the eight-year prison terms for arson they were serving in Matsqui medium-security prison in the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver. Both women have lengthy records for arson and both have gone on numerous hunger strikes. They were convicted of setting fire to a house in April 1985.

Each day since they began their strike, they had drunk only water with some lemon juice in it.

They ended the fast with vitamins and buttermilk, said Corrections Service spokesman Shannon Hurt.

The parole board granted day parole, subject to a particular condition being met within the next two to three weeks, Hurt said.

The board did not disclose the condition, she said, and there was no indication when the women, who are extremely emaciated, would be released.

Earlier, the women had told the board they didn't want parole because that would be an admission they were criminals. Freedomites believe burning material possessions is a justifiable religious act.

Both women refused medical treatment or examination through their hunger strike, although each accepted intraveneous feeding in hospital for 24 hours about the 70th day of the fast.

Theirs was the longest hunger strike in a federal penitentiary. The B.C. Court of Appeal ruled in 1983 that prisoners cannot be force-fed, leaving prison officials able only to offer food.

Along with fellow Freedomite Mary Astaforoff, Braun and Jmaeff were granted federal pardons in 1983 following a lengthy hunger strike.

Astaforoff, 71, died in November 1985 after fasting for 54 days. An autopsy showed she also had terminal stomach cancer.

Freedomites, members of a radical group of zealots who broke with mainstream Doukhobors in 1902, use arson and public nudity to demonstrate their religious beliefs.

Freedomites have dwindled to about 50 people in a tiny settlement outside Grand Forks, B.C. near the U.S. border.