Two Palestine protesters who were on hunger strike in British jails were admitted to hospital. Israel-Palestine conflict news
London, United Kingdom – Two remand prisoners linked to Palestine Action who were on hunger strike have been taken to hospital, according to a family member and a friend.
raising fears that the young Britons who refused food in protest could die at any time.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kamran Ahmed, who is being held in London’s Pentonville prison, was admitted to hospital on Saturday, his sister Shahmina Alam told Al Jazeera.
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Amu Geib, 30, who has not eaten for 50 days while being held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, was taken to hospital on Friday, said Nida Jafari.
a member of the Prisoners for Palestine group and a friend who is in regular contact with him. Gibb uses them as pronouns.
Ahmed and Gibb are among the six prisoners who are protesting at five prisons in the United Kingdom.
over their alleged involvement in burglaries at a subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.
He denies the charges against him, including theft and violent disorder.
“This is day 42 [of Ahmed’s hunger strike] And at this point, there is a significant risk of organ damage,” said his sister, Alam.
“We know that his weight has been dropping rapidly in the last few days, down to half a kilogram [1.1 lbs] one day.”
Ahmed’s last recorded weight was 60 kilograms (132 lb).
When Al Jazeera first interviewed Alam on 12 December, Ahmed, who is 180 cm (5′ 11″) tall, weighed 64 kg (141 lb), having entered prison at a healthy 74 kg (163 lb).
On Thursday, Alam told reporters at a news conference in London that he weighed 61.5 kg (136 lb).
Alam said Ahmed’s speech was slurred during a conversation with the family on Friday. He is reportedly suffering from high ketone levels and chest pain.
“Honestly, I don’t know how he’s going to come out of this,” Alam said.
This is the third time Ahmed has been admitted to hospital after participating in the hunger strike.
‘key Stage’
The hunger strikers’ demands include immediate bail, the right to a fair trial and a ban on Palestine Action, which accuses the UK government of complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
In July, the UK government banned Palestine Action, classifying it as a “terrorist” group, a designation it shares with groups like ISIL.
Protesters have called for an end to alleged prison censorship, accusing authorities of withholding mail, calls, and books.
They are also requesting that all Elbit sites be shut down.
The six are expected to be detained for more than a year until their trial date, far longer than the UK’s six-month pre-trial detention limit.
Kesar Zuhra, 20, who refused food for 50 days, is also in the hospital, having lost 13 per cent of her body weight, according to her lawyers.
The other protesters are Heba Murassi, Touta Hoxha, and Levi Chiaramelo, who suffers from diabetes and refuses to eat every other day.
There was no immediate comment from Pentonville or HMP Bronzefield.
‘I am scared.’
Gibb called his friend Jafari from jail on Thursday and told him he needed a wheelchair to go to a doctor’s appointment where his vital signs would be checked.
Jafri said the jail staff initially refused to give the wheelchair, and later, after giving it, they refused to push it.
“So he lay there on the 47th day of his hunger strike without even checking his body,” Jafri said.
When they are hospitalised, prisoners are unable to call their loved ones, as they can in prison.
“I fear they are alone there and they have no phone and they are not allowed to make calls,” Jafari told Al Jazeera.
Gibb, who has lost more than 10 kilos (22 pounds) and is below the normal range for most health indicators, is “extremely worrying” for his immune system, his lawyers have said.
Jail authorities have “failed to provide” [Gib] with thiamine [a vitamin] constantly, and Amu is feeling the effects on his cognitive function”, the lawyers said.
Gibb’s eyes are also “beginning to hurt from the light” [prison light], Jaffrey said.
Lawyers have sought a meeting with the Secretary of State for Justice, David Lammy, hoping his intervention could be life-saving.
Thousands of British citizens, hundreds of doctors and dozens of MPs have urged Lammy to hear his appeal. But so far,
He has refused, leading critics to accuse the UK government of deliberately ignoring the issue.
The UK media has also been accused of downplaying the protests and their dangers.
The protest has been called the largest coordinated hunger strike in UK prisons since 1981, when Irish Republican prisoners led by Bobby Sands refused food.
Bart Cammaerts, professor of politics and communications at the London School of Economics, wrote, “In contrast to the strong media coverage of the Irish hunger strikes in the 1980s,
The Palestine Action hunger strikes have received massive media silence.”
“What does it take to get the British media to pay attention to the plight of jailed pro-Palestinian activists? Could it be the loss of an activist’s life?
