British hunger strikers learn prison lessons from Palestine

A collage of six people — The political prisoners for Palestine currently on hunger strike: T Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed, Jon Cink, Heba Muraisi, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib (L to R, top to bottom).
Prisoners for Palestine

Six political prisoners in British jails associated with the banned group Palestine Action have now been on hunger strike for up to a month.

They are demanding to be released on bail, the right to a fair trial and an immediate end to what they say is their persecution by the British government.

Most have already been held on remand far longer than the normal six-month maximum which the law allows before trial.

On the latest episode of The Electronic Intifada podcast, the sister of Kamran Ahmed, one of the hunger strikers, told us that her brother’s condition is deteriorating rapidly.

We also spoke to Francesca Nadin, a spokesperson from the new group Prisoners for Palestine, which supports the hunger strike.

Watch the whole interview in this video, or scroll to the bottom of this post for the audio version.

Amu Gib, Qesser Zuhrah and Heba Muraisi have all been on hunger strike for a month. Jon Cink joined them 28 days ago, and Teuta “T” Hoxha and Kamran Ahmed have been on hunger strike for 25 and 24 days respectively.

All are accused of being involved in Palestine Action campaigns carried out before the ban was implemented earlier this year.

Francesca Nadin is a former political prisoner herself, and wrote two letters from British jail for The Electronic Intifada.

She was held on remand for nine months before ultimately being let out on bail. She faces trial in January 2027 for charges relating to a direct action campaign carried out by Palestine Action against Israeli arms firm Elbit and its accomplices in the UK.

Ahmed’s sister, Shahmina Alam, told us that her brother was being treated appallingly inside jail and that his health was failing, but that he was also determined to win.

Due to the effects of the hunger strike on his body, he was hospitalized on 25 November, but discharged three days later. He’s finding it really hard to stay awake and at times even to breathe, Alam said, and he is likely to be rehospitalized soon.

Yet the prison healthcare system was anything but caring.

“He said it was the most inhumane and degrading experience of his life,” Alam said. “Actually he wanted to be discharged because he could not handle being there anymore.”

She related the unhygienic and degrading conditions inside the hospital. The guards even made him walk barefoot back to prison, she said. Doctors would not talk to him, interacting only with guards, and refused him access to his medical notes.

Establishment stitch-up

Palestine Action was infamously banned as a “terrorist” group by the Israel-lobby funded British government this past summer. The group’s co-founder, Palestinian-Iraqi activist Huda Ammori, was at the High Court this week challenging the ban. The judgement is expected to come in the new year.

But she faces an uphill battle. Last month the judge on the high-profile case was replaced at the last minute by a three-judge panel led by Victoria Sharp, a former “principal adviser” to Robert Maxwell, who later turned out to be an Israeli spy.

Nadin and Alam told us that they see similar signs of a stitch-up by the British establishment in the treatment of the political prisoners by both the justice system and the media.

Nadin said there had been “almost a complete blackout in the mainstream media about this story,” despite its importance.

Nadin said her group had had conversations with mainstream journalists wanting to do stories on the hunger strikers that later got blocked by their bosses: “it seems very suspicious to me … I can see a pattern emerging here where it gets blocked by editors or lawyers.”

Journalist Matt Kennard revealed earlier this year that British “counter terror” policing was in November 2024 added to the “D Notice” system – effectively a system of military censorship of the UK’s media.

Public coverage of their cases could lead to widespread public support for the hunger strikers, Nadin said.

Their demands are:

An end to censorship in jail. Prisoners’ letters and phone calls have been blocked.
Immediate bail. Most have been held over the usual six-month time limit.
The right to a fair trial. An end to government demonization and lies.
Deproscribe Palestine Action and drop the “terror” link on these cases.
Shut Elbit down.

Judge mysteriously removed

Alam, too, told of a stitch-up attempt by the British courts system.

Her brother was arrested on 19 November 2024 and so has now been held for nearly 13 months – long past the legal maximum on remand.

In fact, judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb did order Kamran Ahmed be bailed in February this year at a Crown Court. But the bail was immediately appealed by government prosecutors and Ahmed was not released.

Not only was his bail overturned at the High Court, but Cheema-Grubb was immediately removed from judging similar cases, according to Alam.

Ahmed’s trial is currently set for June 2026. By that time, he will have been imprisoned without trial for 18 months. He is facing charges of criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary.

Despite all this, Alam said that every time she speaks to her brother “he sounds upbeat. It’s like he’s the one trying to keep me happy … He’s very determined to make sure that these demands are heard … this is just another commitment he’s making for the liberation of Palestine.”

Lessons from Palestine

At the Palestine solidarity march in London on Saturday, Alam told us, she was approached by Palestinians who passed on a message from Palestinians in the West Bank who had heard about Kamran’s hunger strike.

“They got really emotional and were grateful,” Alam said. “They wanted me to send a message to Kamran specifically saying that they’re so grateful for his solidarity and what he’s doing.”

The experience of these hunger strikers mirrors some of what the Palestinians are going through: “It’s like they’re living the experience of a Palestinian.”

Alam recounted that conditions for her brother have only improved when she and others outside prison have advocated for him and pressured the prison authorities: “People out here have to be their voices, they have to be loud and proud.”

Nadin said of the hunger strikers that “their health is deteriorating now in quite a serious way. Despite that, the government is still failing to engage with the process of negotiations [or] with the demands. We have sent letters to the Home Office … [who] are behind this whole witch hunt of the people in prison, and of the wider movement of pro-Palestinian protest in this country.”

Find out more about the campaign at prisonersforpalestine.org.

Watch the video above, or listen to the episode via SoundCloud, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Produced by Tamara Nassar.