The government is not trying to “break the bodies” of Palestine Action protesters on hunger strike, a minister has said, after a doctor warned that eight of the activists were dying.
Sir Alan Campbell, the Commons leader, dismissed allegations of mistreatment during Thursday’s Christmas adjournment debate. The prisoners, who deny charges linked to alleged break-ins and criminal damage carried out for Palestine Action before the group was banned under terrorism legislation in July, are demanding their charges be dropped. Two of the group have been on hunger strike for 47 days, while a third has reached day 46.
Adnan Hussain, the independent MP for Blackburn, said: “Remand is not punishment. It is not meant to break bodies or silence dissent. Yet we are witnessing conditions so severe that these young people feel driven to risk death simply to be heard.” Campbell replied that such an allegation “couldn’t be further from the truth”.
Dr James Smith, an emergency physician and lecturer at University College London, told a press conference on Thursday that some of the hunger-striking prisoners were dying. A group of 51 MPs and peers has written to the justice secretary, David Lammy, urging him to meet the lawyers of the eight prisoners.
Jeremy Corbyn, the independent MP and former Labour leader, said the group had not received a “substantive reply from the Ministry of Justice”. Campbell said prisoner welfare was “absolutely central” to the prison service and ministers, adding that the deputy prime minister “takes a keen interest” and that the government wanted to “find a settlement”.
The prisons minister, Lord Timpson, said the authorities were experienced in dealing with hunger strikes, with over 200 incidents a year on average over the past five years, and that established processes “work very well” alongside NHS partners.
