London, United Kingdom – Two Palestine Action-affiliated remand prisoners on hunger strike have been taken to hospital, according to a family member and a friend, adding to fears that the young Britons refusing food in protest could die at any moment.
Twenty-eight-year-old Kamran Ahmed, who is being held at Pentonville prison in London, was hospitalised on Saturday, his sister, Shahmina Alam, told Al Jazeera.
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Amu Gib, 30, who has not eaten food for 50 days at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, was taken to hospital on Friday, said the Prisoners for Palestine group and friend Nida Jafri, who is in regular contact with them. Gib uses the pronoun they.
Ahmed and Gib are among six detainees protesting across five prisons over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the United Kingdom’s subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.
They deny the charges against them, such as burglary and violent disorder.
“It’s day 42 [of Ahmed’s hunger strike], and at this point, there’s significant risk of organ damage,” said his sister, Alam. “We know that he’s rapidly been losing weight in the last few days, losing up to half a kilogram [1.1lbs] a day.”
Ahmed’s last recorded weight was 60kg (132lbs).
When Al Jazeera first interviewed Alam on December 12, Ahmed, who is 180cm (5′ 11”), weighed 64kg (141lbs), having entered prison at a healthy 74kg (163lbs). On Thursday, Alam told journalists at a news conference in London that he weighed 61.5kg (136lbs).
Ahmed’s speech was slurred in a call with the family on Friday, said Alam. He is said to be suffering from high ketone levels and chest pains.
“Honestly, I don’t know how he’s going to come out of this one,” said Alam.
It is the third time Ahmed has been hospitalised since he joined the hunger strike.
‘Critical stage’
The hunger strikers’ demands include immediate bail, the right to a fair trial and the de-proscription of Palestine Action, which accuses the UK government of complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza. The UK government banned Palestine Action in July, branding it a “terror” group, a label that applies to groups such as ISIL (ISIS).
The protesters have called for an end to their alleged censorship in prison, accusing authorities of withholding mail, calls and books. They are also urging that all Elbit sites be closed.
The six are expected to be held for more than a year until their trial dates, well beyond the UK’s six-month pre-trial detention limit.
Qesser Zuhrah, a 20-year-old who has refused food for 50 days, is also in hospital, having lost 13 percent of her body weight, according to her lawyers. The other protesters are Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha and Lewie Chiaramello, who is diabetic and refuses food every other day.
There was no immediate comment from either Pentonville or HMP Bronzefield.
‘I’m scared’
Gib called their friend, Jafri, on Thursday from prison, telling her they needed a wheelchair to attend a doctor’s appointment where their vital signs would be checked.
Prison staff at first “refused” to provide a wheelchair, and later, after offering one, “refused to push” it, Jafri said. “So they laid there with … no check of their vitals on day 47 of their hunger strike,” Jafri said.
When they are hospitalised, the prisoners are unable to call their loved ones, as they can from jail.
Jafri told Al Jazeera, “I’m scared they’re there alone with no phones and no calls allowed.”
Gib, who has lost more than 10kg (22lbs), is below the normal range for most health indicators, which is “highly concerning” for their immune system, their lawyers have said.
Prison officials have “failed to provide [Gib] with thiamine [a vitamin] consistently, and Amu is feeling the effects on their cognitive function”, the lawyers said.
Gib’s eyes are also “sore with the bright [prison] lights”, Jafri said.
The lawyers have demanded a meeting with Secretary of State for Justice David Lammy, hoping his intervention could be life-saving. Thousands of everyday Britons, hundreds of doctors and dozens of MPs have urged Lammy to heed their call. But so far, he has refused, leading critics to accuse the UK government of wilfully ignoring the issue.
The UK media have also been accused of downplaying the protest and its dangers.
The protest is said to be the largest coordinated hunger strike in UK prisons since 1981, when Irish Republican inmates led by Bobby Sands refused food.
“In contrast to the robust media coverage of the Irish hunger strikes in the 1980s, the Palestine Action hunger strikes have been largely met with media silence,” wrote Bart Cammaerts, a professor of politics and communication at the London School of Economics.
“What will it take for the British media to pay attention to the plight of jailed pro-Palestinian activists? The death of an activist? Or the awakening of a moral conscience?”