AFP - A Cuban dissident journalist on a hunger strike for two weeks was diagnosed as suffering from heart arrhythmia and severe dehydration but again refused hospitalization, a spokesman said Wednesday.

Guillermo Farinas, 48, rejected a recommendation for his hospitalization made by physicians sent by the state, said Ismel Iglesias, a doctor who has been aiding the dissident told AFP by telephone from the city of Santa Clara.

Iglesias siad the two doctors sent by the government said Farinas was suffering from "heart arrhythmia and advanced dehydration."

But Iglesias said that Farinas "insists he will only (accept treatment) when he becomes unconscious."

The journalist has lost 13 kilos (28 pounds) since going on the hunger strike to seek the release of 26 political prisoners who are seeking medical treatment, Iglesias said.

"He is very fragile, dehydration is quite marked, his skin is dry and scaly and his eyes sunken," added Iglesias.

Farinas was hospitalized a week ago after losing consciousness due to hypoglycemia.

He has vowed to press ahead "to the end" with his protest fast, which he began the day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on the 85th day of his own hunger strike.

Meanwhile, former political prisoner Felix Bonne, 70, who has been a member of the dissident "Democratic Cuban Alliance," said he would start his own hunger strike if Farinas dies.

The Cuban government earlier this week denounced the hunger strike as "blackmail" and rejected his demand to free 26 political prisoners needing medical care, according to the official Communist Party newspaper Gramna.