British prime minister Keir Starmer’s government has for weeks ignored hunger strikes by a group of prisoners linked to a pro-Palestinian group. It may be forced into action soon, however, as events reach a point where they threaten to spiral out of control.
Eight prisoners involved in the hunger strikes are being held on remand in prisons around Britain, in advance of their trials slated for next year and 2027.
They are all linked to the group Palestine Action, which was banned under anti-terror legislation in July over a campaign of property damage linked to Israel’s war in Gaza. The prisoners on hunger strike, however, are accused over incidents predating the ban.
Doctors say some are now at risk of death as those on hunger strike the longest near the end of their eighth week refusing food. Memories of the 1981 IRA hunger strikes are being stirred in Britain.
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Four are held in connection with an alleged incident at an RAF base this year in which two warplanes were damaged. The other four are charged with offences in relation to an alleged break-in at the UK base of Elbit Systems, an Israeli military tech company.
One of the eight is said to have been on only intermittent hunger strike due his diabetes. Of the other seven, there are conflicting reports about whether they are all still engaged in the protest – the BBC has reported that two of them quit.
That leaves at least five who are definitely still on hunger strike. The two who have been on the protest the longest – Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib (also known as Amy Gardiner-Gibson) – have been refusing food for 47 days. That is already one day longer than IRA man Martin Hurson, who died two months after Bobby Sands in 1981.
There are several complicating factors here for Starmer as he ponders whether to intervene.
[ Palestine Action protesters on hunger strike in prison ‘are dying’, doctor saysOpens in new window ]
The first is that some of the five demands of the prisoners are virtually undeliverable in the circumstances, notably the demand for the closure of Elbit in the UK and the de-proscription of Palestine Action.
The latter issue is already the subject of a separate legal case challenging the legality of the ban: a court has reserved judgment.
Of the other three demands, two may have scope for leeway: an end to alleged “censorship” of the prisoners’ communications in prison, and the release of certain pieces of information about their cases currently withheld from their lawyers.
The fifth – immediate bail for the prisoners, who have not been convicted of a crime and are not charged with offences of violence against any person – is a matter for the courts.
Starmer brushed off a question about the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday, while his justice secretary, David Lammy, has so far refused to intervene.
But if some of the prisoners reach a critical health juncture, the pressure on the UK government to defuse the situation may become unbearable. As Christmas approaches, the issue will only be driven further up a news-hungry media’s agenda.
[ Palestine Action-linked hunger striker taken to hospitalOpens in new window ]
If they start to die, then Starmer may be faced with a full-blown crisis. The optics of pro-Palestinian prisoners starving themselves to death in Britain while Israel has been accused of using food as a weapon in Gaza – which it has denied – are obvious.
That the UK prisoners are being refused bail in cases where they are not up on charges of violence would make it worse.
Pro-Palestinian protesters, and the right-wing counter protesters that like to goad them, frequently take to Britain’s streets as it is. If the pro-Palestinian side is handed martyrs, then tensions may be impossible to rein in.
