Two Palestine Action activists have been hospitalized after being on hunger strike for more than 40 days to protest against the conditions in which they are being held in prisons in the United Kingdom.
They are Kamran Ahmed, 28, and Amy Gardiner-Gibson, “Amu Gib,” 30, who have not eaten for 44 and 50 days respectively.
The first of them, detained at Petonville Prison in London, was admitted to hospital this Saturday, his sister Shahmina Alam confirmed to the pan-Arab television channel Al Jazeera. For its part, the group Prisoners for Palestine confirmed that the second woman was admitted to hospital from Bronzefield Prison in Surrey on Friday.
That same Sunday, an interview with Ahmed was published in The Daily Telegraph in which he asserted that “it is worth dying” if it can “reduce oppression abroad.”
“Yes. I’m afraid of dying. Yes. I think that could have consequences for the rest of my life, but I see the risk and the benefit and think it’s worth it,” he told the newspaper by telephone from his cell at HMP Pentonville prison, where he has been for thirteen months.
They join 20-year-old Qesser Zuhrah, who was hospitalized last week after going without food for 50 days while detained under anti-terrorism laws.
The three are among six prisoners protesting in five British prisons, accused of theft, criminal damage and violent disorder.
With their action, which protested against restrictions on postal communications, calls and visits, they demand the closure of all companies in the military sector related to Israel, the lifting of the ban on the Palestine Action and the release of prisoners on bail.
This is the largest coordinated hunger strike in British prisons since the one organized by Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners in 1981.
The activists’ lawyers have asked to meet with Justice Minister David Lammy and warned that their lives are in danger. However, the government refuses to accept them, assuring that all planned protocols will be followed.
The Palestine action was banned on July 5th. Britain’s Court of Appeal in October upheld a challenge by pro-Palestinian activist and NGO co-founder Huda Ammori against former home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the group.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, called on the British government at the end of July to lift the ban on the NGO because it constituted an abuse of an already excessive anti-terrorism law from 2000.
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