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Bodies as Barricades

Calla Mairead Walsh

In 1981, the Irish Republican hunger strikers began to die after 46 days without eating.

The Prisoners for Palestine hunger strike — the largest in British prisons since the 1981 Irish strike, in which 10 prisoners of war were ultimately martyred — has now been ongoing for 48 days.

Political prisoners Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib have not eaten for 48 days, Heba Muraisi for 47 days, Jon Cink for 44 days, Teuta Hoxha for 41 days, Kamran Ahmed for 40 days, Lewie Chiaramello for 26 days, and Umer Khalid for 16 days. All are in remand without bail; four of them are part of the Filton 24, having allegedly caused over £1 million in damages to an Elbit Systems factory, while the other four are part of the RAF Brize Norton 5, having allegedly broken into a Royal Air Force base and sprayed red paint on two Airbus Voyager planes.

The hunger strike began on 2 November, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, in which Britain officially gave its backing to the project of Jewish settler colonialism in Palestine.

The strike seeks an end to all censorship of the prisoners’ mail and communications; immediate and unconditional release on bail; the right to a fair trial, including the disclosure of all communications between Elbit, the Zionist regime, and the British government; de-proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organization; and the permanent closure of all Elbit facilities and subsidiaries in the country.

While today’s hunger strike takes place in a vastly different context than 1981 — the Irish Republican Army and Irish National Liberation Army were waging a protracted armed struggle for national liberation against British colonial occupation in the north of Ireland, and their strike began when the British occupiers withdrew their prisoner of war status — their root cause is the same: the British state’s direct participation in imperialist genocide, whether in Palestine or Ireland, and their brutal repression of those daring to resist it.

Palestine Action was shut down due to its success in disrupting Zionist weapons factories, which threatened the existing order. The methods applied to the empire’s enemies abroad – the proscription of resistance forces as “terrorist organizations” — are now turned inwards against domestic resistance as dozens of prisoners are remanded under the “Terrorism Act”, despite none of them being charged with terrorism. Whether by persecuting teenagers for dismantling the infrastructure of genocide profiteering or arresting elderly people in wheelchairs for holding signs that read, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”, the instruments of legal warfare are being used to silence all real political opposition.

Since the proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organization, the abuse and political targeting of the Prisoners for Palestine has also escalated inside the prison system. They have been isolated, cut off from any communication with their family and friends, relocated to remote facilities, and deprived of basic rights within prison. Prison guards ripped off Muraisi’s hijab (a keffiyeh) while she was praying, stole all of Zuhrah’s hijabs, and brutalized Khalid for giving the call to prayer from behind bars. Prisoners for Palestine went on hunger strike after exhausting all other means of appealing to the government. Their bodies were the only weapons of resistance they had left.

The British government has refused to respond to letters from MPs, take a meeting with the hunger strikers’ lawyers, or even acknowledge that the hunger strike is taking place at all — while nearly all the hunger strikers have been hospitalized, some multiple times, and many now face imminent death from starvation.

On Day 44, Zuhrah was left suffering in pain on her cell floor as nurses, the prison, and the NHS refused to provide her medical support or send an ambulance until she lost consciousness the next morning. On Day 46, Qesser’s condition deteriorated again, and, too weak to stand, she begged to be hospitalized. MP Zarah Sultana stayed at HMP Bronzefield from the early hours of the morning, soon joined by dozens of protestors, urging them to allow an ambulance inside, which was repeatedly denied. On Thursday afternoon, Zuhrah was finally evacuated in an ambulance after their 12-hour protest.

Despite her body withering away, Zuhrah continues to insist that her suffering pales in comparison to those undergoing the US and British-sponsored genocide in Gaza, stating:

How lucky am I! Because today…the Zionist entity is still blocking blankets, shelter materials, tents and food from reaching our starving and freezing Palestinian People…How cruel is our world when I become grateful that I have the four walls of a cell to protect my starving body from this harsh winter and I cry for those that don’t!

Above all else, the hunger strikers are asking for supporters not to focus on them, but on continuing to take direct action against Elbit Systems. Their motivation for having taken action against the Zionist-imperialist war machine was rooted in the understanding that the British state — which was created and sustained through colonial genocide and imperialism — would not respond to polite appeals. That is why the hunger strikers call for resistance, not mere words or gestures of solidarity. The British state may have proscribed Palestine Action, but they cannot proscribe the tactic of direct action. Zuhrah writes:

As a nation, we have made a shameful mockery of resistance. It is from our Palestinian people that we learn what resistance truly entails. It is from our Palestinian prisoners, whose captivity and unspeakable torture could not extinguish their desire for the liberation of their homeland, that we learn.

It is from our resistance, whom we have cowardly forsaken, that we learn. It is from them that we learn, O Palestine, that we can do more for you than bang our pots and pans.

And it is in their footsteps we follow, as we determine to put our bodies on the line in resistance to the Zionist project, its manifestation as Elbit systems and its implementation by the British state.

[Courtesy: Progressive International, an international organization uniting and mobilizing progressive left-wing activists and organizations.]

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UK Medical Professionals Warn Palestine Action Hunger Strikers ‘Will Die in Prison’

Stephen Prager

December 19, 2025: Eight Palestine Action activists in the UK are at risk of dying in prison as they remain on hunger strike to protest their detention, according to hundreds of medical professionals.

More than 800 doctors, nurses, and therapists wrote to Justice Secretary David Lammy on Thursday to warn that the detainees, who are all between the ages of 20 and 31, were not receiving adequate medical care. The activists are being held in five prisons on remand, meaning that they are kept in prison before trial without being released on bail.

“Without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offense,” the campaigners said.

At least five of the hunger strikers have reportedly been hospitalized after refusing food for weeks. Two of the strikers, Amu Gib and Qesser Zuhrah, have refused food for 48 days, while another, Heba Muraisi, has refused for 47.

Ella Moulsdale, a fellow activist and friend of Zurah’s, told ITV: “It’s very hard to watch her walk right now. She has almost no energy to, so she walks extremely slowly, with her back hunched in pain. She still wants me to hug her, but she can’t hug back at all.”

“Any day after day 35 is considered final and severe, when your body essentially starts to eat itself,” Moulsdale said. “Her body is clearly working overtime, and it doesn’t have enough fuel to keep her alive.”

The eight hunger strikers are among 33 people arrested in connection with two direct actions against entities they argue are taking part in Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine.

Four were arrested for alleged involvement in a 2024 break-in at a facility in Filton for Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer and the primary supplier of weapons and surveillance technology used in the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.

After breaking into the facility, activists are accused of having dismantled military equipment, including quadcopter drones, which have been used to kill and maim Palestinians in Gaza, sometimes reportedly playing the sounds of crying women and babies to lure them out of hiding. The activists also allegedly destroyed other weapons systems, computers, and manufacturing equipment, totaling over £1 million. In September, Elbit quietly closed down the site.

Four others are accused of trespassing at a British Royal Air Force base in Norton, where they reportedly sprayed red paint on the engines of two aircraft. According to one report, since December 2023, the RAF has conducted over 1,000 hours worth of surveillance over Gaza, communicating intelligence to the Israeli military.

The Labour Party government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, added Palestine Action to a list of banned “terrorist” organizations in July, which made membership in or support for the group a criminal offense.

According to Amnesty International, more than 600 people were arrested for peacefully supporting the group between November 18 and 29. In October, over 500 protesters were arrested on a single day, mostly for holding signs calling on British authorities to lift the ban.

Since the ban went into effect, more than 2,700 people have been arrested across the UK over support for or involvement with Palestine Action. The UK has seen a more than 660% increase in “terrorism” related arrests since September as a result of the ban.

Dr. James Smith, an emergency physician and lecturer at University College London, told ITV that the activists on hunger strike need specialist medical care that they are not receiving.

According to Smith, 200 members of the British Medical Association wrote a letter to the organization’s leadership “to sound the alarm” about “substandard monitoring and treatment” for the prisoners.

“The hunger strikers are at imminent risk of irreversible damage to their bodies, and of death,” Smith said. “It is my view, as [a National Health Service] doctor, that the complexity of the hunger strikers’ care needs must now be managed with regular specialist input if not continuous monitoring in hospital.”

“Put simply, the hunger strikers are dying,” he added at a press conference Thursday. “They are all now at a critical stage.”

Earlier this week, a group of 51 members of parliament and peers wrote a separate letter urging Lammy to meet with lawyers for the eight prisoners. UK Prison Minister Lord James Timpson dismissed the request, saying he would not meet with any of the prisoners or their attorneys: “I don’t treat any prisoners any differently from any other,” he said.

On Wednesday, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is now an independent MP, wrote Lammy another letter asking if he shared the minister’s satisfaction, and reiterating that the eight prisoners are “at serious risk of death” amid “regular breaches of prison conditions and prison rules.”

“The Ministry of Justice is still refusing to meet with the lawyers or families of hunger strikers being held on remand,” Corbyn said in a post on social media. “This is a shambolic dereliction of duty. I have written to David Lammy, again, imploring him to do the right thing before it is too late.”

Starmer responded to Corbyn’s criticisms himself in Parliament that same day: “He will appreciate there are rules and procedures in place in relation to hunger strikes, and we’re following those rules and procedures.”

The hunger strikers have demanded immediate bail and the right to a fair trial. They have also called for an end to the censorship of their communications, a lift on the ban against Palestine Action, and the closing of all UK sites run by Elbit.

Asked if her friend Zurah would continue to refuse food even as she reaches deadly stages, Moulsdale said, “That’s ultimately her decision to make.”

“I hope it doesn’t have to come to that because these demands are very, very simple,” she said. “They are asking the British government to uphold international and national law.”

[Stephen Prager is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Courtesy: Common Dreams, a US non-profit news portal.]

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Greta Thunberg Arrested in UK for Supporting Palestine Action and Opposing Gaza Genocide

Julia Conley

December 23, 2025: “Because in the world we live in, Western leaders can arm a genocide and walk free—while Greta Thunberg is arrested as a dangerous terrorist supporter.”

That was the assessment of journalist Owen Jones on Tuesday after the Swedish climate justice leader was arrested in London outside the offices of Aspen Insurance, a company that provides services to an Israeli weapons maker, where she had been seated on the ground with a sign stating, “I support Palestine Action prisoners, I oppose genocide.”

The protest was in solidarity with demonstrators who have been imprisoned for taking part in nonviolent direct actions with the UK-based group Palestine Action. The government banned Palestine Action in July as a terrorist group, making it the first group to be declared as such under part of the UK Terrorism Act that defines “serious damage to property” as an act of terror—rather than violence against people.

Under the law, anyone who displays items or clothing that “arouse reasonable suspicion” of support for Palestine Action can be punished with up to six months in prison.

Thunberg is one of thousands of people who have taken to the streets in support since the group’s proscription, and one of about 2,000 people who have been arrested for doing so. Two other activists were also arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

In Thunberg’s case, a spokesperson for City of London police said “she has been arrested for displaying an item (in this case a placard) in support of a proscribed organization (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”

The protest was specifically in support of eight people who have been on a hunger strike to protest their imprisonment and Israel’s continued attacks and blocking of essential aid in Gaza.

At least two of the prisoners are in their 52nd day of the hunger strike, and medical professionals have raised grave concerns about their health. Advocates in the UK have also demanded that the Labour government meet with lawyers for the detainees. On Monday, attorneys for the activists said in a letter that the government’s refusal to meet with them violates the Ministry of Justice’s policy for handling cases of hunger strikes.

“It is up to the state to intervene and put an end to this by meeting these reasonable demands that pave the way for the freedom of all those who choose to use their rights trying to stop a genocide, something the British state has failed to do themselves,” said Thunberg.

Member of Parliament Zarah Sultana, co-founder of the socialist Your Party, said that government leaders in the UK, who have continued to back Israel’s attacks on Gaza, should be imprisoned, rather than those protesting.

“Greta Thunberg has just been arrested for opposing genocide,” said Sultana. “Meanwhile, [Prime Minister] Keir Starmer—complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people—walks free. He should be arrested and sent to The Hague.”

Journalist Matt Kennard said images of police confiscating Thunberg’s sign and arresting her “will be studied in history books.”

“Fascism is already here,” he added.

[Julia Conley is a staff writer for Common Dreams. Courtesy: Common Dreams, a US non-profit news portal.]

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Is the Labour Government Willing to Let Palestine Activists on Hunger Strike Die?

Ana Vračar

In Britain, pressure is mounting on the Labour government to respond to demands put forward by dozens of activists imprisoned for direct action in support of Palestine, many of whom have been on hunger strike since early November. “The hunger strike, which involves eight prisoners for Palestine, is now on day 40,” the campaign Prisoners for Palestine wrote on Friday. “They are in the danger zone, where irreparable harm is likely, and their health becomes critical.”

Even before launching the strike, the prisoners had pressed for a set of demands, including fair trial, deproscription of direct action group Palestine Action, and an end of Elbit Systems operations in the country. “Until our demands are met, we will resist,” wrote Qesser Zuhrah, one of the prisoners. “We ask our government now: are you willing to let us die before you stop arming a genocide?”

Judging from the government’s lack of response until now, the answer to that question might be positive. Zuhrah, who has been on hunger strike the longest, along with Amu Gib, has reported worsening health conditions. Last week, after experiencing chest pain, she sought medical help but was left waiting for hours, her family told local media.

The prisoners’ deteriorating health status has been a major cause of concern for their friends and solidarity groups since the beginning of the strike. They stress that both prison authorities and the government have failed to provide adequate care to the prisoners as they suffered significant weight loss. Five people have been hospitalized already, two of them twice, Prisoners for Palestine warned.

More than 100 health workers warned in an open letter to NHS England at the end of November that the health consequences facing the prisoners could be devastating. At the time, they reported that several hunger strikers were already exhibiting low blood sugar, electrolyte imbalances, and other signs of deterioration. Since then, the list of medical risks has grown to include potential organ failure, neurological damage, and death.

“The risk of death is clear and increases with each passing day,” health workers emphasized in a new letter dated December 12 and addressed to Justice Secretary David Lammy. “Each individual’s physiological response is different, and one cannot generalize the experience of previous hunger strikers, but we draw your attention to Martin Hurson, one of the IRA hunger strikers, who died after 46 days on hunger strike in 1981. He was 24 years old.”

Government ignores calls for action

Health workers’ letters, along with responses from the broader Palestine solidarity movement, condemn the treatment the activists are receiving in prison. Beyond reports of prisoners being left waiting hours for medical attention, medical professionals warn that the level of care available inside the prison system is unlikely to meet the complex medical needs of people on prolonged hunger strike, including in the case when refeeding becomes necessary. Increasingly, health workers and other activists alike insist that, to ensure the prisoners’ safety, they must be released on bail while awaiting trial.

“The treatment of prisoners associated with Palestine Action while awaiting trial in British prisons is a disgrace,” the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said. “Urgent action is needed to protect the lives of the hunger strikers. They clearly do not pose any threat to the public and should be immediately released on bail. It is the perpetrators of genocide, and the British politicians and companies arming them, who should be facing trial.”

Several of the activists have been held for more than a year awaiting trial, and some of the trials are only scheduled to begin in 2027. Throughout their imprisonment, the prisoners reported serious rights violations, including the censorship of correspondence and restrictions on family visits. Their cases have been raised by MPs from Your Party, the Greens, and progressive Labour figures, yet calls for bail and fair trial conditions have been repeatedly ignored despite the clear risk to life.

This month, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, along with Green Party deputy leader Mothin Ali, visited imprisoned activists. In November, Corbyn had requested a meeting with Lammy to discuss the hunger strike; his request was rejected nearly a month later. “The government is letting the hunger strikers die,” Corbyn wrote on December 12. “This is a national scandal – and should be on the front page of every newspaper in Britain.”

All of those imprisoned are young activists arrested following actions targeting UK-based sites linked to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, including Elbit Systems facilities and a Royal Air Force (RAF) base. The latter was used by Keir Starmer’s government as justification to proscribe the direct action group Palestine Action, a move that has sparked a widespread civil unrest campaign and a legal process that could bring even more embarrassment for the Labour administration.

Last week, demonstrations were held against the treatment of the hunger strikers, including at the Ministry of Justice, where protesters sprayed red paint on the building, and outside the BBC, which has been heavily criticized for failing to report on the situation. Over the weekend, further actions took place, including protests at HSBC branches over the bank’s investments in Elbit Systems.

[Courtesy: People’s Health Dispatch, a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. Peoples Dispatch is an international media organization with the mission of highlighting voices from people’s movements and organizations across the globe.]