The plight of Palestine Action hunger strikers
The year is closing on a somber note, as all eyes focused on the brave individuals currently waging a battle, not on a battlefield, but within the walls of British prisons.
Eight Palestine Action activists are on a hunger strike, a desperate measure that highlights the state's severe repression of dissent against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
These activists are not convicted criminals, they are political prisoners held on remand, many for over a year, awaiting trial delayed until 2026 or 2027.
Their crimes, alleged acts of direct action against UK-based Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems and at an RAF base (Brize Norton in Oxfordshire), actions aimed at disrupting the flow of weapons to the Zionist entity.
Stripped of the right to a fair trial in a timely manner, the face the disproportionate use of counter-terrorism laws by the UK government to silence their protest.
The hunger strike is their final most potent weapon, the refusal to be sustained by a system they view as complicit in mass starvation and violence.
Several strikers, including Kamran Ahmed and Qesser Zuhrah, have been hospitalized; their health rapidly deteriorating after over a month without food.
Doctors warn they are at a very, very high risk of death.
Reports indicate that the hunger strikers are being blocked from contact with their families, who fear the worst call at any moment; they have experienced conditions so harsh that international bodies like UN has raised alarms about human rights breaches.
The proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group in July 2025 has been widely criticized by civil liberties groups as a politically-motivated overreach designed to stifle legitimate protest.
Thousands of people have been arrested simply for holding signs in support of the group.
The demands of the hunger strikers are, firstly, immediate bail for all the political prisoners on the Palestine Action cases, secondly, an end to the severe censorship within prisons, thirdly, the right to a fair and timely trial, fourthly, the deproscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. And last but not least, the cessation of all UK government contracts with, and ties to, Elbit Systems.
The hunger strike is more than a protest. It is a desperate appeal to collective conscience.
The British state is willing to let its own citizens die in custody, rather than acknowledge the profound moral objection to its role in the arms trade with the Zionist entity.
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