Above photo: Guy Smallman, Getty Images.
Families and medical professionals are demanding urgent government intervention to save the lives of anti-genocide activists accused of ‘terrorism’.
Medical professionals in the UK have warned that eight Palestine Action activists held in British prisons are at “imminent risk of death,” with concerns raised publicly during a press conference in south London on 18 December.
Emergency physician and University College London lecturer Dr. James Smith said the detainees’ condition has sharply deteriorated and told reporters that “the hunger strikers are dying.”
Smith said accounts from inside the prison system point to “substandard monitoring and treatment.”
“It is my view, as an NHS doctor, that the complexity of the hunger strikers’ care needs must now be managed with regular specialist input if not continuous monitoring in hospital,” he said.
More than 200 members of the British Medical Association raised concerns last week.
At the same time, nearly 900 health professionals have written to Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, senior NHS officials, and prison authorities demanding urgent action.
Lawyers representing the detainees, all of whom are between the ages of 20 and 31, have joined families in the appeal, warning that only six activists remain actively on hunger strike after two others paused due to medical conditions.
Several of the prisoners, who are being held on remand while awaiting trial, have already been transferred to a hospital, with supporters saying some have gone without food for up to 47 days, a period doctors describe as “critical.”
Rahma Hoxha, whose sister Teuta Hoxha has been on hunger strike for 40 days, said prison guards labeled her sister a terrorist despite her remand status.
“She said it feels as if the Government is trying to bury them alive and for them to go quietly,” Hoxha said.
Shahmina Alam, the sister of Kamran Ahmed, said his condition is rapidly worsening.
“His heart is giving in and his pulse is slowing down, he is losing half a kilogram every day,” she said, calling on authorities “to meet with us urgently because the lives of the hunger strikers are in their hands.”
The eight detainees face charges linked to alleged break-ins or criminal damage carried out on behalf of Palestine Action before the group was banned under UK terrorism legislation.
