{"id":187927,"date":"2025-12-16T17:47:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:47:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187927\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T17:47:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:47:07","slug":"palestine-action-linked-hunger-strikers-may-die-without-lammys-intervention-lawyers-say-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/187927\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers may die without Lammy\u2019s intervention, lawyers say | UK news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Palestine Action-affiliated hunger strikers are likely to die without David Lammy\u2019s intervention, lawyers representing the prisoners have said as they criticised the justice secretary for refusing to meet them.<\/p>\n

Solicitors wrote to Lammy last Wednesday to request an urgent meeting before their clients\u2019 health deteriorates \u201cbeyond any possible recovery\u201d. But a subsequent letter sent on Tuesday said that his reply, received on Monday \u201cdoes not directly address our request\u201d.<\/p>\n

Two of those refusing food are on day 45 of their protest \u2013 one day less than Martin Hurson did before becoming the sixth of 10 IRA hunger strikers to die in 1982 \u2013 and another is on day 44.<\/p>\n

The latest letter says that Qesser Zuhrah, who has been refusing food since 2 November, experienced her legs shaking uncontrollably a few nights ago, collapsed onto the floor for hours and went in and out of consciousness. Zuhrah, who is being held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey awaiting trial, was sick in an ambulance which was called only after an entire night of her begging to be taken to the hospital<\/p>\n

The lawyers say that Amy Gardiner-Gibson, also at HMP Bronzefield on day 45, is exhausted and their test results are showing low white blood cells, low red blood cells and cognitive decline.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the context of our clients\u2019 rapidly deteriorating health and the increasing likelihood that they might die as a result of this strike, this is highly concerning,\u201d the letter from Imran Khan & Partners, seen by the Guardian, says. \u201cTheir commitment to this cause of action means that their death is increasingly more than a mere possibility. It is a likelihood, particularly if the situation remains unresolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demands of the prisoners \u2013 who will have have been in prison for more than a year before they are tried \u2013 include immediate bail, ending the ban on Palestine Action<\/a> and stopping restrictions on their communications.<\/p>\n

They allege mail, calls and visits have been restricted on spurious grounds or without explanation, legal mail has been opened unlawfully, access to books has been blocked, inmates have been taken off or banned from prison jobs for \u201csecurity reasons\u201d and non-association orders have been implemented between their clients. A lack of or late medical observations or treatment since the hunger strike began is also alleged in some cases.<\/p>\n

Two out of the eight hunger strikers \u2013 Jon Cink, who was in hospital, and Umer Khalid, who has muscular dystrophy \u2013 are understood to have ended their protest. The other prisoners refusing food are Heba Muraisi (day 44), Teuta Hoxha (day 38), Kamran Ahmed (day 37) and Lewie Chiaramello (day 12), who has diabetes.<\/p>\n

More than 50 MPs and peers have written to Lammy urging him to meet with MPs representing the hunger strikers and their loved ones, or their lawyers, \u201cand act to prevent a catastrophe\u201d.<\/p>\n

The independent MP and former Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, put the request for a meeting to the justice minister, Jake Richards, in the Commons on Tuesday. When Richards replied \u201cno\u201d, laughter was heard from some MPs in the chamber, prompting Corbyn to post on X that \u201cthey should be ashamed of themselves\u201d.<\/p>\n

Last week, the speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, said it was \u201ctotally unacceptable\u201d that Lammy had failed to reply to a request from the Labour MP, John McDonnell, for a meeting with MPs to discuss the hunger strikers.<\/p>\n

The lawyers\u2019 letter to Lammy says: \u201cYou are uniquely placed in that as a senior government minister with oversight of His Majesty\u2019s prison service, you can bring about a resolution of the situation, such that the increasing deterioration of our clients\u2019 health does not lead to their death.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe make clear that our request for a meeting is in an effort to seek to resolve the immediate situation and prevent the loss of life. Unless you tell us, we cannot see any reason why you would not want to engage in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: \u201cWe continually assess prisoners\u2019 wellbeing and will always take the appropriate action, including taking prisoners to hospital if they are assessed as needing treatment by a medical professional.
\u201cHis Majesty\u2019s Prison and Probation Service has assured ministers that all cases of prisoner food refusal are being managed in accordance with the relevant policy and with appropriate medical assessment and support, consistent with prisoner rights.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Palestine Action-affiliated hunger strikers are likely to die without David Lammy\u2019s intervention, lawyers representing the prisoners have said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-187927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}