To the UK Government:
We, the undersigned, write to you today as survivors of state violence.
We are a group of former hunger strikers from Palestine, Ireland and Guantanamo Bay. Hunger strikes end only when authorities intervene or people die. Through suffering, permanent damage, and the sight of fallen comrades, we learned how nations behave when forced to deny prisoners of war the only right they have: food.
We therefore express our uncompromising solidarity with the hunger strikers held in British prisons today, including Kesser Zurah, Am Gib, Heba Murashi, Kamran Ahmed, Teuta Hoxha, John Sink, Rewi Chiaramero and Mohamed Umer Khalid. They are imprisoned on remand without trial or conviction. Some people have been on remand for more than a year, but most people cannot stand trial for two years.
The British government opted for a long period of remand, isolation, and censorship. The government has chosen to limit contact with loved ones, condone medical neglect, and deploy a rhetoric of fear in an insidious attempt to deliberately deprive these prisoners of public sympathy and fundamental rights before their trials take place.
We cannot forget what today’s hunger strikers represent. They represent Palestine. They support dismantling the infrastructure of weapons that kill Palestinians. They support the end of the apartheid regime implemented by the Israeli government. They stand in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners of war. They represent the complete liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea.
For years, Palestinian prisoners have been subjected to well-documented systematic abuse in Israeli prisons, including torture, extreme sexual violence, medical neglect, and deaths in custody. However, the British government continues to choose to be complicit in the actions of the State of Israel through its unwavering support for the State. It has chosen to keep Israel armed and to hold Israeli officials accountable while Palestinian bodies, including men, women, and children, are violated and destroyed in the streets, in their homes, and in prisons.
Palestinian Action political prisoners went on hunger strike when they had no other choice. The state’s decision to rely on the use of the “terrorism” category to enforce systematic repression against those who refuse to submit leaves those seeking legal rights with no other choice.
This is not a new phenomenon. The use of the word “terrorism” has long been used to manufacture fear, mislead public perceptions, and justify repeated violations of even the most basic human rights. Once this label is applied, rights become conditional, freedoms become transactional, and the presumption of innocence evaporates. The rule of law, so proudly claimed to be protected, is instantly desecrated by the single word “terrorist” deployed by unscrupulous politicians determined to protect their own interests.
The ban on Palestinian action was not about security. It was about control. Repeated flagrant violations of justice did nothing to convince the public that this was a dangerous organization. It was to convict a prisoner before being tried. It was to isolate them, criminalize solidarity, and send a warning to anyone who might speak out or organize against Israel’s war machine.
Trials conducted under a state-created atmosphere of fear cannot be said to be fair, and juries exposed to decades of terrorist rhetoric cannot operate without bias. These prisoners were vilified the moment their “terrorist links” were mentioned in the announcement of their arrest, even though no formalities had taken place.
We therefore request the following:
1. Hold an emergency ministerial meeting with families and legal representatives to agree on actions to protect the lives of hunger strikers. Immediate bail for all Palestine Action prisoners of war (known as the Filton 24) and hunger strikers.
2. Dropping of terrorism charges aimed at criminalizing dissent.
3. Fair trial conditions free of fear-based discourse and political interference.
4. Immediate access to independent medical care of the prisoner’s choice.
5. End censorship and family visitation restrictions.
In 1981, Britain chose to let Irish hunger strikers die in Longkesh Prison. In the 2000s, Britain chose silence about the plight of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. For decades, Britain, along with other governments, continued to choose to do nothing in Palestine. Each time British officials claimed responsibility lay elsewhere. Each time, history recorded the truth.
Despite being force-fed and labeled as terrorists, suffragettes are today hailed as heroes and freedom fighters. Despite the stigma they faced, the Long Kesh prisoners are seen as an important part of the peace achieved under the Good Friday Agreement. Despite public consent to their inhumane treatment and torture, prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were never tried and the majority were released without conviction.
Just as they were all vindicated, history will also incriminate the prisoners of the Palestinian action who tried to stop the slaughter of innocent people against the wishes and interests of the British government.
We are not mere observers, but, like the hunger strikers of the past, we are witnesses to the injustices currently being perpetrated at the hands of the state against a people that history will undoubtedly vindicate.
Signed by:
Shadi Zayed Saleh Odeh, Palestine
Mahmoud Radwan, Palestine
Osman Bilal, Palestine
Mahmoud Sidki Suleiman Radwan, Palestine
Loai Odeh, Palestine
Tommy McCarney, Ireland
Lawrence McKeown, Ireland
Tom McFeely, Ireland
John Nixon, Ireland
Mansour Adeifi (GTMO441), Guantanamo
Lakhdar Boumediene, Guantanamo
Samir Naji Mokbel, Guantanamo
Moas Al Alwi, Guantanamo
Khalid Qasim, Guantanamo
Ahmed Rabbani, Guantanamo
Sharqawi al-Hajj, Guantanamo
Said Salim, Guantanamo
Mahmoud Al Mujahid, Guantanamo
Hussein Al Marfady, Guantanamo
Osama Abu Kabir, Guantanamo
Abdul Halim Siddiqui, Guantanamo
Ahmed Adnan Ajam, Guantanamo
Abdel Malik Al Rahabi, Guantanamo
Ahmed Elrashidi, Guantanamo
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.
