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IMPHAL, India — One of India’s most prominent political activists ended a 16-year hunger strike Tuesday, licking honey from her hand and declaring “I will never forget this moment.”

Irom Sharmila had been force-fed through a tube in her nose and held by police since November 2000, when she began her fast to protest a draconian security law that gives immense power to security forces in the northeastern state of Manipur.