UK faces pressure as Pro-Palestine prisoners risk lives in hunger strike

(MENAFN) Former hunger strikers from Ireland, Palestine, and Guantanamo Bay have called on the UK government to act on behalf of pro-Palestine activists in British prisons, some of whom have been on hunger strike for more than two months, citing serious risks to their health.

In an open letter published by a news agency on Sunday, the signatories said they were showing “uncompromising solidarity” with eight Palestine Action detainees who began refusing food in November.

The activists are held in connection with alleged break-ins and damage at the UK site of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton near Bristol and at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.

Three remain on hunger strike, while others have paused.

The prisoners deny the allegations. Their demands include immediate bail, a fair trial, and the removal of the terrorism designation applied to the Palestine Action group, banned in July after activists spray-painted two planes red at Brize Norton in protest of Israel’s Gaza campaign.

The letter accuses authorities of imprisoning the activists “without trial and without conviction,” using terrorism-related language to “strip these prisoners of public sympathy and basic rights before any trial takes place.” Some detainees could face up to two years in custody, exceeding normal detention limits.

Signatories drew parallels with historical hunger strikes, including suffragettes, Irish republican prisoners in 1981, and Guantanamo detainees in the 2000s, arguing that such actions were later vindicated.

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