Palestine Action Prisoners in UK Launch Hunger Strike Over “Systematic Abuse”

By Staff, Agencies

A group of political prisoners held on remand in the United Kingdom for alleged involvement in Palestine Action activities has begun a hunger strike to protest what they describe as “systematic abuse and repression” by British prison authorities.

According to the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine [PFP], activists Qesser Zurah and Amu Gibb began a rolling hunger strike at HMP Bronzefield on Sunday, refusing food in protest of their treatment. They were joined on Monday by Huba Muraisi, detained at HMP New Hall, with more prisoners expected to join in the coming days.

PFP said it could not reveal the total number of strikers for fear that participants would face retaliation from prison officials. The group described conditions inside the prisons as “punitive and degrading,” aimed at breaking the morale of detainees linked to pro-Palestinian activism.

According to PFP, Zurah was “forcibly confined to her cell” after announcing her strike and was informed by prison guards that she would be “placed on report” for violating “prison discipline.”

Muraisi—who is of Yemeni origin and has family in Gaza—was arrested on “terrorism”-related charges following an August 2024 Palestine Action operation targeting the UK headquarters of ‘Israeli’ arms manufacturer Elbit Systems in Filton, Bristol. She was detained during a dawn raid on November 24, 2024, and has been held ever since.

The campaign group reported that Muraisi has been “targeted by prison authorities,” with her privacy violated, visits restricted, and access to books curtailed. They also said that Muraisi was “forcibly stripped of her keffiyeh,” which she wore as a hijab during prayers, by Bronzefield’s head of security, Yasmine Cooper.

Muraisi was later transferred from Bronzefield to New Hall—a facility located “hundreds of miles away from her family and legal support”—in what advocates called a deliberate act of isolation and punishment.

The hunger strike comes after British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood failed to respond to a letter from multiple defendants outlining their grievances, including political interference, surveillance, and restrictions on communication.

Among the prisoners’ key demands are:

• Immediate release on bail for all detainees held on remand.
• An end to the interference in their personal communications.
• Protection of their right to religious expression and humane treatment.

All pro-Palestine detainees connected to Palestine Action have been denied bail and are being held beyond the UK’s 182-day legal pre-trial custody limit for Crown Court cases.

Following the group’s proscription in July under the UK’s counterterrorism laws—when then–Home Secretary Yvette Cooper banned Palestine Action and labeled it a “terrorist organization”—activists have faced intensified repression. Expressing support for or affiliation with the group is now considered a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Human rights observers note that British authorities have expanded restrictions on mail, phone calls, and visits for prisoners connected to Palestine Action since the ban took effect.

Despite the crackdown, thousands across the UK have defied the ban in what campaigners describe as “historic acts of mass civil disobedience,” demanding an end to British complicity in “Israeli” war crimes.

Currently, around three dozen prisoners are being held in British prisons on charges linked to Palestine-related activism. While the charges are not formally classified as terrorism offenses, the Crown Prosecution Service has stated that it will argue in court that the defendants’ actions had a “terrorism connection,” potentially increasing sentencing severity.

In July, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned Britain’s ban on Palestine Action, calling it “a deeply troubling misuse of counterterrorism powers” and urging the government to reverse its decision.

Meanwhile, dozens of other pro-Palestinian prisoners across Britain have announced plans to launch a collective hunger strike on November 2—the anniversary of the 1917 Balfour Declaration, when the British government pledged support for the Zionist colonization of Palestine.

Activists say the strike could become the largest organized hunger protest in British prisons since 1981, when ten Irish republican prisoners were martyred after 66 days of fasting in protest of British oppression in occupied Northern Ireland.