VANCOUVER (CP) - Two elderly Sons of Freedom women who fasted for 107 days to gain their freedom from arson convictions have been released from prison on day parole.

[Mary Braun] and [Tina Jmaeff] were serving eight-year prison terms for arson. Both have numerous previous convictions for arson, and had staged other hunger strikes to gain their freedom.

VANCOUVER (CP) - Two elderly Sons of Freedom women who fasted for 107 days to gain their freedom from arson convictions have been released from prison on day parole.

Mary Braun, 67, and Tina Jmaeff, 63, have been sent to a community facility, said Shannon Hurt, a Corrections Canada spokeswoman. She declined to identify the facility.

The women ended the hunger strike Dec. 2 after being granted parole by the National Parole Board, but could not be released until their physical conditions improved.

Braun and Jmaeff were serving eight-year prison terms for arson. Both have numerous previous convictions for arson, and had staged other hunger strikes to gain their freedom.

Braun had been released on parole last spring but was returned to prison in the summer when officials became concerned she would break the conditions of her parole.

Freedomites are a radical group of zealots who split with mainstream Doukhobors in 1902. They use arson and public nudity to show their rejection of wealth, and to demonstrate the conviction of their beliefs.