Hunger strikers’ supporters send a dripping red message to Lammy

Two supporters of the Prisoners for Palestine hunger strikers took their message direct to David Lammy’s office on 12 December.

The hunger strike is approaching its seventh week, and there’s still no response from the British government. So activists from the group took action against the Ministry of Justice. At 8am, using re-purposed fire-extinguishers, they covered the front of the building in symbolic blood-red paint. The activists then locked-on in front of the building with a banner which read “Elbit corrupts Justice”.

No response to the hunger strikers

Two weeks before the start of the Prisoners for Palestine hunger-strike, on 2 November, Prisoners for Palestine wrote to the Ministry of Justice, informing it of the hunger-strikers’ demands.

Since then, 8 prisoners have joined the protest: Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gibb, Jon Cink, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed, Muhammed Umer Khalid, and Lewie Chiaramello.

Prisoners for Palestine, the lawyers representing the prisoners, and over a hundred medical professionals have repeatedly sent letters. Despite this, there’s been no response from the government accepting a meeting to find a resolution to the hunger strike.

The eight hunger strikers are all unconvicted of any offence but several have now spent over a year in custody.

Their lawyers have written to deputy prime minister and justice secretary Lammy, calling for an urgent meeting, referring to the “increasingly likely potential” that their clients could die on hunger strike.

The activists taking action today are also demanding Lammy agrees to meet with the lawyers urgently. And they want this to happen before the health of the hunger strikers deteriorates further. Five of them have already needed hospital treatment.

In October, the hunger-strikers’ demands were communicated to the government. They include the right to a fair trial, an end to the interference with their mail, and release on bail as per the established rules.

A spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine said:

It is six weeks now, since the hunger strikers, imprisoned without trial, and looking at up to a further year unjustly incarcerated, were forced to use their bodies to expose this situation and resist injustice.

Despite their rapidly deteriorating health, the government has continued to ignore them. We must stand in solidarity with the hunger strikers, and escalate our activity in support of them.

This is an emergency, which David Lammy could swiftly resolve by meeting with representatives of the hunger strikers to come to an agreement on the demands

It is his responsibility to urgently find a resolution, rather than to continuously delay responding at the detriment of the health of unconvicted prisoners.

It is time for David Lammy to accept a meeting, to save the lives of those on hunger strike.

Each of the prisoners is incarcerated for allegedly taking direct action against a genocide.

By the prison system, they are being treated and labelled as ‘terrorists’ despite being detained before Palestine Action was proscribed.

Their mail is restricted, communications censored and they are denied the right to see the full evidence of foreign and political interference in their cases.

They should be released on bail and given fair treatment and the right to a fair trial.

Featured image supplied