The British shoe bomber convicted of trying to blow up a transatlantic flight is being force-fed in America’s toughest jail after going on hunger strike, court papers disclose.

Richard Reid has been refusing food for several weeks in an apparent protest against prison restrictions that he says prevent him from following his Sunni Muslim faith.

The Muslim convert from South London is being held at the Administrative Maximum prison in Florence, Colorado, the only “supermax” jail in America.

The 490-capacity fortress, known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies, also houses Zacarias Moussaoui, a conspirator in the September 11, 2001 attacks, and Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing. Two domestic terrorists, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, and Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombing conspirator, are also being held there.

Reid, 35, is serving 110 years for attempting to bring down a ParisMiami American Airlines flight carrying 197 passengers in December 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoe.

He filed a lawsuit two years ago claiming that he was being held subject to strict “special administrative measures” that prevented him from attending group prayers as required by his religion, pursuing a correspondence course in his religion or subscribing to religious magazines.

He also complained that he was barred from reading newspapers or watching TV news, and denied phone contact with anyone except his lawyer, the British Consulate and his immediate family.

The US Government revealed on Tuesday in a previously undisclosed court filing dated April 14 that Reid had been refusing food since March.

The filing said that Reid had refused 58 meals by April 9. A government lawyer said that he was still on hunger strike. Prison officials decided on April 7 that “medical intervention was necessary” after Reid went on hunger strike.

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