Dozens of political activists detained in British prisons are preparing to begin a mass hunger strike on November 2, protesting what they describe as “political persecution” due to their support for Palestine.
Prisoners for Palestine announced that this strike will be the largest of its kind in Britain since the Irish prisoners’ strike of 1981. It will involve detainees from the Filton 24 and Brize Norton 5, who have been held under the Terrorism Act without formal charges for more than a year.
Activists Audrey Cornu and Francesca Nadin addressed a letter to the British Home Secretary on behalf of 33 detainees, including five key demands.
The demands included lifting censorship on correspondence and communications, their immediate and unconditional release, ensuring the right to a fair trial, removing Pal Action from the “terrorist” list, and closing all facilities of the Israeli arms company Elbit Systems in Britain.
Asim Qureshi, research director at CAGE International, said the strike was “a response to the structural violence of the UK prison system and the government’s complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza,” adding that it “represents an extension of the struggle from within the cells.”
Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of the Samidoun Network for the Defense of Palestinian Prisoners, called for the broadest public and political solidarity movement in support of the strike and the demands of “Prisoners for Palestine,” emphasizing that they are being subjected to repression and arrest because of their struggle to stop the genocide in the Gaza Strip and their prominent role in exposing the crimes of the occupation and the British government.
The strike is scheduled to begin on the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, a symbolic reference to Britain’s historic role in establishing the Zionist project in Palestine. Organizations supporting the strike have been given until October 24 to respond to their demands.
It’s worth noting that former prisoner Teuta Hoxha had previously gone on a 28-day hunger strike, during which she forced the prison administration to meet most of her demands, inspiring other detainees to expand their resistance from within British prisons.
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