Pro-Palestine activists held in prison while awaiting trial have threatened to go on an open-ended hunger strike starting 2 November, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, unless their demands are met. The prisoners, who are part of groups known as the Filton 24 and the Brize Norton Five, have issued a list of demands to the Home Office, including immediate bail, the lifting of the ban on Palestine Action, and an end to censorship of their communications.
A letter detailing the demands was handed in at the Home Office on Monday by two previously imprisoned activists, Francesca Nadin and Audrey Corno. They stated that the government had left the prisoners with no other option but to hunger strike for their freedom and justice, citing the government’s alleged participation in the genocide in Gaza and its actions towards the prisoners.
The Filton 24 are accused in relation to an action at Elbit Systems in Filton, near Bristol, last year. They are scheduled to be tried in April next year on charges of aggravated burglary, criminal damage, and violent disorder. The Crown Prosecution Service said there was a “terrorism connection,” but no charges have been brought under the Terrorism Act.
The Brize Norton Five are charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place knowingly for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the UK, following a protest at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on 20 June. They are not scheduled to stand trial until January 2027. Palestine Action claimed responsibility for both incidents.
Palestine Action became the first direct action protest group to be proscribed under the Terrorism Act shortly after the Brize Norton incident, although intelligence officials had first recommended the ban in March. The Court of Appeal ruled on Friday that a legal challenge to the proscription, brought by co-founder Huda Ammori, could go ahead next month, rejecting a Home Office attempt to block it.
In response to the judgment, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Palestine Action has conducted an escalating campaign. This has involved sustained criminal damage, including to Britain’s national security infrastructure, as well as intimidation, alleged violence and serious injuries. Palestine Action remain a proscribed group and those who support them will face the full force of the law. Everyone should remember: supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist group are not the same thing.”
