Three protesters waiting for a trial, have ended their hunger strike after 73 days.
Palestine Action activists Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi and Lewie Chiaramello began eating again on Wednesday, Jan. 14, the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said.
Prisoners for Palestine group claimed the strike was ended after the UK government met their demands, allegedly denying Israeli-based defence firm Elbit Systems a £2 billion contract.
Ahmed, 28, from east London, was reportedly at “imminent risk of de@th” last week because of lack of food and he was transferred to the hospital.
The trio are some of the last remaining hunger strikers who started the action while waiting for trial over their alleged roles in Palestine Action raids and alleged criminal damage.
Umer Khalid is now the last remaining hunger striker, the campaigners say on their website.
Within the last month, four other hunger strikers, Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib, have also started to re-feed.
They were part of a group of eight detainees held on remand after being charged with offences relating to break-ins and criminal damage at Elbit Systems site in August 2024 or another action at RAF Braze Norton in Oxfordshire in June last year.
Palestine Action was banned under terrorism legislation, meaning being a member became a crime. The move sparked widespread criticism. The ban has been challenged in the High Court, with a decision expected at a later date.
Prisoners for Palestine said that national leaders of prison healthcare met representatives of the hunger strike prisoners on Friday to discuss prison conditions and treatment recommendations.
Chiaramello said: “It is definitely a time for celebration. A time to rejoice and to embrace our joy as revolution and as liberation.
“We do this because of Palestine, because we’ve been inspired, because we’ve been empowered to take action and to try to realise our dreams for a free Palestine, for an emancipated world.”
Prisoners for Palestine said: “While these prisoners end their hunger strike, the resistance has just begun.
“Banning a group and imprisoning our comrades has backfired on the British state, direct action is alive and the people will drive Elbit out of Britain for good.”
Several other prisoners have been taken to hospital since the hunger strike started on November 2.
Muraisi, a lifeguard and a florist with Yemeni heritage, said, according to a friend, that she could no longer feel hunger some days before the hunger strike ended.
She said: “Physically, I am deteriorating as the days go by. I no longer feel hunger, I feel pain.
“I don’t think about my life, I think about how or when I could di£, but despite this, mentally I’ve never been stronger, more determined and sure, and most importantly, I feel calm and a great sense of ease.”