He added that the second Doukhobor woman - 68-year-old Tina Jmaiff, who is on oxygen and is refusing all medical treatment - is continuing her fast of 58 days. "She's very weak and confined to a bed. We're hopeful she'll follow (Braun).

Laura Savinkoff, a member of the group, said Jmaiff and Braun were notified Wednesday that they would remain in prison.

Savinkoff said she had hoped prison and parole officials would show compassion and allow Jmaiff and Braun to return to their community.

One of two elderly Doukhobor women has ended her hunger strike in the Burnaby Correctional Centre for Women.

John Pastorek, the centre's director of operations, said Thursday that Mary Braun, 73, started eating late Wednesday night after 25 days of fasting.

However, he added that the second Doukhobor woman - 68-year-old Tina Jmaiff, who is on oxygen and is refusing all medical treatment - is continuing her fast of 58 days. "She's very weak and confined to a bed. We're hopeful she'll follow (Braun).

"We're concerned, but it's difficult to assess her condition properly, because she won't cooperate."

Earlier, a support group for the two women said Jmaiff and Braun were denied parole for refusing to sign documents agreeing to the parole conditions.

Laura Savinkoff, a member of the group, said Jmaiff and Braun were notified Wednesday that they would remain in prison.

Savinkoff and other members of the Sons of Freedom sect met with parole board officials in Gilpin, near Grand Forks, this week to go over a proposal that would have seen a communal seniors home built for the two women, who have long criminal records for arson.

"We're definitely upset," Savinkoff said.

She also said some government officials visited the two women last weekend and tried to intimidate them into signing papers that would have resulted in them being sent to hospital for treatment.

"They said sign the papers or you'll go to a mental institution," Savinkoff said. "The ladies took that as a threat."

The centre's warden, Esther McMullen, denied the allegation, saying no such discussion took place.

Savinkoff said she had hoped prison and parole officials would show compassion and allow Jmaiff and Braun to return to their community.

However, Don Bell, executive-director of the B.C. Board of Paroles, said the group wanted the women released without conditions.

"The board felt that there were risk factors and a proposal like that was beyond the jurisdiction of the board.

"In order to serve the sentence within the community, the first priority is public safety. And we'll entertain any application that addresses the protection of society."

The two women are serving a sentence for burning their clothes last year on the steps of the house of Doukhobor leader John Verigen.

Their prison records for arson include burning sheds and other buildings, but community members say they are pacifists and light the fires only because of the Doukhobor belief that fire is a purifying and cleansing ritual.

Because they are religiously opposed to any government control of people's lives, the women will not sign parole documents, even if they were to be granted parole.

"It's like the only two ways the ladies can leave is if they sign for parole or they have to come out in a box," Savinkoff said.