Both IRA hunger-striker, Mrs. Thatcher hold firm.

irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands, his condition declining rapidly, vowed Tuesday to keep up his 52-day prison hunger strike as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher personally rejected his demand for political-prisoner status. "Crime is crime is crime," Mrs. Thatcher told a news conference in Riyadh on the last day of a trip to Saudi Arabia. "There can be no possible concession on political status," she said in turning down an appeal from three lawmakers from the Irish Republic for talks to discuss the plight of Sands, elected to the British Parliament this month.

Mrs. Thatcher's tough position was greeted by a seventh straight day of rioting in Londonderry.