2004 Aug 6

MADRID, Spain (Reuters) -- A German prisoner in Madrid and his girlfriend glued their hands together during a jail visit in an attempt to fight the man's possible extradition to Germany, judicial sources said on Thursday.

The pair were taken to hospital, where doctors were considering whether to operate or use a powerful solvent to separate the man's left hand from the woman's right.

The glue is a type normally used in car repairs.

Spanish police arrested the 39-year-old man in the southern city of Cadiz in April on request from Germany, where he faces accusations of smuggling women from Eastern Europe to force them into prostitution, the judicial sources said.

The Madrid court studying the extradition request will not make a decision for several months, they added. The man has a separate judicial case pending in Spain and authorities want it resolved before any handover to Germany.