{"id":647642,"date":"2025-12-22T04:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647642\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T04:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T04:56:12","slug":"two-palestine-action-hunger-strikers-in-uk-prisons-admitted-to-hospital-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/647642\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Palestine Action hunger strikers in UK prisons admitted to hospital | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

London, United Kingdom \u2013<\/strong> Two Palestine Action-affiliated remand prisoners on hunger strike have been taken to hospital, according to a family member and a friend, adding to fears<\/a> that the young Britons refusing food in protest could die at any moment.<\/p>\n

Twenty-eight-year-old Kamran Ahmed<\/a>, who is being held at Pentonville prison in London, was hospitalised on Saturday, his sister, Shahmina Alam, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

Amu Gib, 30, who has not eaten food for 50 days at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, was taken to hospital on Friday, said the Prisoners for Palestine group and friend Nida Jafri, who is in regular contact with them. Gib uses the pronoun they.<\/p>\n

Ahmed and Gib are among six detainees protesting across five prisons over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the United Kingdom\u2019s subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.<\/p>\n

They deny the charges against them, such as burglary and violent disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s day 42 [of Ahmed\u2019s hunger strike], and at this point, there\u2019s significant risk of organ damage,\u201d said his sister, Alam. \u201cWe know that he\u2019s rapidly been losing weight in the last few days, losing up to half a kilogram [1.1lbs] a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ahmed\u2019s last recorded weight was 60kg (132lbs).<\/p>\n

When Al Jazeera first interviewed Alam on December 12, Ahmed, who is 180cm (5\u2032 11\u201d), weighed 64kg (141lbs), having entered prison at a healthy 74kg (163lbs). On Thursday, Alam told journalists at a news conference in London that he weighed 61.5kg (136lbs).<\/p>\n

Ahmed\u2019s speech was slurred in a call with the family on Friday, said Alam. He is said to be suffering from high ketone levels and chest pains.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t know how he\u2019s going to come out of this one,\u201d said Alam.<\/p>\n

It is the third time Ahmed has been hospitalised since he joined the hunger strike.<\/p>\n

\"ShahminaShahmina Alam with her younger brother, Kamran Ahmed, a Palestine Action-linked hunger striker [Courtesy of the Alam family]\u2018Critical stage\u2019<\/p>\n

The hunger strikers\u2019 demands include immediate bail, the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action, which accuses the UK government of complicity in Israel\u2019s war crimes in Gaza. The UK government banned Palestine Action in July, branding it a \u201cterror\u201d group, a label that applies to groups such as ISIL (ISIS).<\/p>\n

The protesters have called for an end to their alleged censorship in prison, accusing authorities of withholding mail, calls and books. They are also urging that all Elbit sites be closed.<\/p>\n

The six are expected to be held for more than a year until their trial dates, well beyond the UK\u2019s six-month pre-trial detention limit.<\/p>\n

Qesser Zuhrah, a 20-year-old who has refused food for 50 days, is also in hospital, having lost 13 percent of her body weight, according to her lawyers. The other protesters are Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Lewie Chiaramello, who is diabetic and refuses food every other day.<\/p>\n

There was no immediate comment from either Pentonville or HMP Bronzefield.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m scared\u2019<\/p>\n

Gib called their friend, Jafri, on Thursday from prison, telling her they needed a wheelchair to attend a doctor\u2019s appointment where their vital signs would be checked.<\/p>\n

Prison staff at first \u201crefused\u201d to provide a wheelchair, and later, after offering one, \u201crefused to push\u201d it, Jafri said. \u201cSo they laid there with \u2026 no check of their vitals on day 47 of their hunger strike,\u201d Jafri said.<\/p>\n

When they are hospitalised, the prisoners are unable to call their loved ones, as they can from jail.<\/p>\n

Jafri told Al Jazeera, \u201cI\u2019m scared they\u2019re there alone with no phones and no calls allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gib, who has lost more than 10kg (22lbs), is below the normal range for most health indicators, which is \u201chighly concerning\u201d for their immune system, their lawyers have said.<\/p>\n

Prison officials have \u201cfailed to provide [Gib] with thiamine [a vitamin] consistently, and Amu is feeling the effects on their cognitive function\u201d, the lawyers said.<\/p>\n

Gib\u2019s eyes are also \u201csore with the bright [prison] lights\u201d, Jafri said.<\/p>\n

\"NidaAmu Gib (left) with their friend, Nida Jafri [Courtesy: Nida Jafri]<\/p>\n

The lawyers have demanded a meeting with Secretary of State for Justice David Lammy, hoping his intervention could be life-saving. Thousands of everyday Britons, hundreds of doctors and dozens of MPs have urged Lammy to heed their call. But so far, he has refused, leading critics to accuse the UK government of wilfully ignoring the issue.<\/p>\n

The UK media have also been accused of downplaying the protest and its dangers.<\/p>\n

The protest is said to be the largest coordinated hunger strike in UK prisons since 1981, when Irish Republican inmates led by Bobby Sands refused food.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn contrast to the robust media coverage of the Irish hunger strikes in the 1980s, the Palestine Action hunger strikes have been largely met with media silence,\u201d wrote Bart Cammaerts, a professor of politics and communication at the London School of Economics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat will it take for the British media to pay attention to the plight of jailed pro-Palestinian activists? The death of an activist? Or the awakening of a moral conscience?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"London, United Kingdom \u2013 Two Palestine Action-affiliated remand prisoners on hunger strike have been taken to hospital, according…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,299,4884,7424,12,1144,18939,2579,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-647642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-israel-palestine-conflict","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-prison","17":"tag-protests","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115761447396485666","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=647642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}