Three Palestine Action prisoners on hunger strike in UK jails are showing alarming signs of physical deterioration, with one having entered her third month without food, supporters have said. Heba Muraisi, 31, on day 65 of her protest, is suffering from muscle spasms and breathing difficulties, while Kamran Ahmed, 28, has reported intermittent hearing loss after 58 days. Lewie Chiaramello, 22, who has type 1 diabetes, has been fasting every other day for 44 days.
Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician at University College London, said the three were “well into the critical phase” and warned that “things can decline very quickly and irreversibly”. The hunger strike, which began on 2 November, demands immediate bail, an end to the ban on Palestine Action, and closure of Israeli arms company Elbit Systems’ UK sites. Ahmed, speaking through an intermediary from Pentonville prison where he has been hospitalised five times, said he was willing to continue despite the risks: “I intend to continue my hunger strike; perhaps they wait for me to leave in a body bag.”
The prisoners have all spent over 18 months on remand—far exceeding the standard six-month limit—for activities linked to Palestine Action. The coordinated action is understood to be the largest in the UK since IRA hunger strikes in 1981, when ten people died, with the earliest death after 46 days. Five other participants have paused their strikes, the latest ending 60 days of refusal.
The prisons minister, James Timpson, stated that prisoners receive NHS care and that remand decisions are for the judiciary, adding that it would be “entirely unconstitutional” for ministers to intervene. The Ministry of Justice has similarly declined to meet the protesters, warning that agreeing would create “perverse incentives”.
