Open letter in support of hunger strikers sends an enduring message to Bristol Labour MPs

A coalition of Bristol Palestine solidarity groups has sent an open letter to Bristol’s five Labour MPs. The letter went out before three of the hunger strikers ended their action. But it remains a strong support of their demands. The letter asks the MPs to demand David Lammy meets with the hunger strikers’ legal representatives before it’s too late.

Letter to Bristol Labour MPs

14/01/2026

FAO: MPs Damien Egan, Claire Hazelgrove, Kerry McCarthy, Darren Jones, and Karyn Smyth

We write to you as a coalition of Bristol Palestine solidarity groups, as a matter of urgency. We call on you to demand that Justice Secretary David Lammy meet with the four hunger strikers’ legal representatives.

Thirty-one-year-old Heba Muraisi is on day 73 and 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed is on day 66 of hunger strike. They are both close to death. Lewie Chiaramello, who just turned twenty three-years-old in HMP Bristol is on day 51 of an intermittent hunger strike, and is also in a critical condition due to having diabetes. [Those three concluded their action later on 14 January.]

Twenty-two-year-old Umer Khalid resumed his hunger strike on 10 January and has said that he will stop drinking water from 24 January if the government continues to refuse a meeting with the strikers’ legal representatives.

Your silence is deafening. People around the world are staging sit-ins and protests outside UK embassies and consulates for the hunger strikers, all prisoners of conscience for protesting the UK’s role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And citizens worldwide are educating or re-educating themselves about the UK’s shameful history of prisoner hunger strikers being treated with contempt, resulting in death.

Meanwhile, our current government responds to Jeremy Corbyn’s requests for a meeting between government ministers and the hunger strikers’ representatives with laughter in parliament, is comfortable with misleading the public about how common hunger strikes are in UK prisons – the main argument for refusing to engage is because it might set a precedent – and is actively denying these prisoners their rights in prison. The government isn’t passively ‘letting’ these hunger strikers die, it’s a deliberate act designed to punish and quell dissent.

As Bristol MPs you have not questioned what the UK subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer is doing in our community. Filton, where Elbit Systems UK factory is located, is now known worldwide for all the wrong reasons. Israel’s ongoing genocide would simply not be possible without Elbit.

On 2 January, several Palestine solidarity groups hand-delivered evidence of Elbit’s crimes against humanity to police at nearby Patchway police station, calling on the police to open a criminal investigation into the company. Other groups also hand-delivered evidence to Bridewell police station late in 2025. We urge you to follow these investigations up with Avon and Somerset police.

You have not shown concern for Lewie Chiaramello, incarcerated in our city but from north-west London, now gravely ill while hunger striking in solidarity with the other hunger strikers.

Instead, you voted to proscribe Palestine Action [or failed to oppose it – Jones and McCarthy abstained] and doubled-down on your support of Israel, or – at best – you made lukewarm statements about humanitarian aid entering Gaza and a theoretical two-state solution.

Labour friends of Israel – Damien Egan, Darren Jones and Karin Smyth, Labour friend of Palestine – Kerry McCarthy, and Claire Hazelgrove, the world is watching you show the complete opposite of what the hunger strikers embody; humanity.

The eight past and present hunger strikers have spoken of their love of life. The very thing they were imprisoned for was trying to protect life. They have five demands – immediate bail, the right to a fair trial, ending censorship of their communications, de-proscribing Palestine Action, and the shutting down of Elbit Systems. These demands centre justice, dignity, and life for themselves, their co-defendants, and for Palestinians. These young people are the best of us, and we are willing them to live, desperate for our political representatives to act.

Our conscience does not allow us to simply wait for the hunger strikers to die. And you underestimate the electorate. As we have seen over the last two years of genocide in Gaza, the proscription of Palestine Action, and the clampdown on Palestine solidarity in the UK, more people than ever have become active in their support for Palestine. People are educating themselves on the UK’s historical role in Palestine, on colonisation and the common threads we are seeing worldwide, and are fighting for our civil liberties.

MPs who do not understand the rage and grief of so many of us in Bristol and nationwide, staggered that we are having to beg you in this way, staggered by just how repressive this government has become, are going to be left behind at the next election.

Silence is not neutral in times of oppression. You have power, please use it today. Later will be too late. Our friends will be dead.

We urge you all, in an act of humanity and compassion for Heba, Kamran, Lewie, and Umer, to call on David Lammy to agree to an emergency meeting with their legal representatives.

Yours faithfully,

Bristol Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Bristol Families for Palestine

Bristol School Strike for Palestine

Bristol Apartheid Free Zone

Bristol Na’amod