Palestinian Action hunger striker ‘deteriorating’ after losing 10kg in 69 day protest
The Palestine Action protester is “deteriorating” after nearly 70 days of hunger strike in prison while awaiting trial, friends have warned.
Heba Muraisi, 31, is struggling to breathe and experiencing headaches and dizziness after turning down food while being held at HMP New Hall in Yorkshire over allegations of trespass on behalf of the group.
After 69 days, he is one of three activists still on strike for demands including immediate bail; doctors warn they face permanent injury or death if they continue.
Ms Muraisi’s friend Amareen Afzal said: Sky News After a visit on Tuesday: “I think he’s lost over 10 kilos now. He looks very different from the photos you’ll see.”
He said Ms Muraisi “had difficulty sleeping on one side of her body because it was so painful” and that she sometimes felt so dizzy that she felt nauseous.
“He’s aware that he’s deteriorating and he’s physically dying, you know, his body could fail him at any moment,” he added.
Ms Muraisi’s next of kin, Francesca Nadin, said this week that she was having trouble breathing and thinking clearly: “It’s really worrying. But she’s still mentally strong and can laugh and joke.”
“We don’t know when this worsening will come.”
Ms Nadin said Muraisi had been on hunger strike since the death of IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands, who died while imprisoned in Northern Ireland in 1981.
According to the Prisoners of Palestine group, doctors have warned that Ms Muraisi and fellow striker Kamran Ahmed, 28, are now at a critical stage and their condition could deteriorate rapidly and irreversibly.
The organization said Ahmed, who is detained at HMP Pentonville, had been hospitalized six times since he began his hunger strike. He was last hospitalized at 1 a.m. on Wednesday due to heart complications, on the 59th day of his hunger strike, his sister said.
Lewie Chiaramello, who has type 1 diabetes, fasts every other day. All three say they will starve to death until Palestine Action is banned and Britain ends its support for companies sending arms to Israel.
They deny charges relating to alleged break-ins or criminal damage on behalf of the Palestine Movement to the Bristol-based UK subsidiary of Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems and an RAF base in Oxfordshire, before the group was banned under terrorism legislation.
Neurologist Dr. who studies hunger strikes in prisons. David Nicholl told Sky News that strikers could risk permanent harm and death even if they stopped now.
“The biggest risk is something called refeeding syndrome,” he said. He explained that after going without food for so long, there was a risk that the hunger strike would end suddenly.
Prisons minister Lord Timpson said hunger strikes were “extremely worrying” but were not a new problem for prisons.
“We have averaged over 200 sentences a year for the last five years and we have long-standing procedures to ensure the safety of prisoners,” the minister said.
“Prison medical teams are providing NHS care and are constantly monitoring the situation. HMPPS is clear that claims to be denied hospital care are completely misleading; they will always be received when needed and some of these prisoners have already received hospital treatment.
“These prisoners are accused of serious crimes such as aggravated robbery and criminal damage. Arrest orders are for independent judges and lawyers can represent in court on behalf of their clients.
“Ministers will not meet with them. We have a justice system based on the separation of powers and an independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system. It would be completely unconstitutional and inappropriate for ministers to intervene in ongoing cases.”
