Palestine Action hunger strikers are ‘dying’ in prison, UK doctor warns

Six remand prisoners affiliated with the proscribed protest group Palestine Action who are on hunger strike are not receiving adequate healthcare and face an immediate risk of death, hundreds of British healthcare professionals have warned.

On Thursday, more than 800 doctors, nurses, therapists and carers wrote to Justice Secretary David Lammy to warn that “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 offence”.
The prisoners, aged between 20 and 31, are: Qesser Zuhrah; Amu Gib; Heba Muraisi; Teuta Hoxha and Kamran Ahmed. Lewie Chiaramello is on a partial strike, refusing food every other day as he is diabetic.

“Put simply, the hunger strikers are dying,” James Smith, an emergency physician and university lecturer, told a news conference in London on Thursday, speaking alongside family members of some of the hunger strikers, politicians supporting them, their lawyer and activists.

“They are all now at a critical stage.”

The group are being held across five prisons over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Oxfordshire. They deny the charges against them, such as burglary and violent disorder.

Palestine Action, which was banned in July as a terror group, a label that applies to groups such as ISIL (ISIS), believes the UK government is complicit in Israeli war crimes.
Zuhrah and Gib have been refusing food for almost seven weeks.

“After three weeks, the body has exhausted fat stores and organ tissue in order to generate enough energy simply to maintain bodily functions,” explained Smith, who has been in contact with the hunger strikers.

He said that prolonged starvation leads to heart muscles breaking down, kidney filtration problems, muscle weakness that affects breathing and heart failures, which can “suddenly cause death”.

In their letter, the healthcare professionals said twice daily assessments, daily blood tests and 24-hour medical cover were needed.

“If any of the above requirements are not met, then it follows that the hunger strikers require care unavailable in the prison. As such, they should be managed in a hospital setting, particularly in the event that complications arise.”

Pressure has been piling for weeks on Lammy, who has refused to meet with the activists’ lawyers to address their concerns over their welfare.

Teuta Hoxha, who is on the 40th day of her strike, suffers from low blood pressure, headaches, chest tightness and shortness of breath.

Her 17-year-old sister, Rahma, said Teuta feels “weak” and nauseous, and is preparing to die.

“Lammy needs to urgently meet with the lawyers, to save my sister’s life,” she said.

‘This is a very deadly period’
When they are hospitalised, the prisoners are unable to call their loved ones, as they do from jail.

Hoxha said her sister recently discharged herself from hospital against medical advice in order to tell her family about her condition. Ella Mousdale, a relative of Zuhrah’s, said she had done the same.

Zuhrah, 20, has suffered with chest pains, exhaustion, and a consistently high pulse of 100bpm “despite doing next to no physical activity”, her lawyers said. She has told loved ones that she regularly collapses in prison.

“She’s very slow. She’s hunched over. Physically, she’s just had body pains all over and just is extremely weak, so she can’t hug me back any more,” Mousdale told Al Jazeera after visiting her on Sunday.

“It’s difficult for her to stay awake. It’s difficult for her to talk for long periods of time.”

Zuhrah stopped communicating with the family on Wednesday, so they assumed she had been transferred to hospital, with Mousdale saying they no longer knew if she was alive.