Families of Palestine Action hunger strikers seek urgent meeting with Lammy | Palestine Action
Families and supporters of hunger strikers affiliated with Palestine Action have pleaded with David Lammy to meet them in a bid to break a stalemate over the protest, which has left some seriously upset.
On Monday, as the protest reached a dangerous stage, the hunger strikers’ lawyers filed a legal letter arguing that the justice minister had failed to comply with the Justice Department’s own policy on hunger strikes by denying the meeting.
The intervention came after three prisoners were hospitalized at the same time on Sunday: 20-year-old Qesser Zuhrah and 30-year-old Amu Gib, who had refused to eat for 51 days, and 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed, who was on the 43rd day of his hunger strike.
His sister, Shahmina Alam, said Ahmed was hospitalized for the third time and his condition had now exceeded the limits of urgency.
Asked if he had a message for Lammy, Alam said: “There is still time to do better, better for UK citizens, to end the UK’s complicity in ongoing genocide.” [by Israel in Gaza]By supporting prisoners who risk their lives to ensure transparency and integrity in our justice and government systems.
“He has a choice. He can say something and do something about it, meet with lawyers or family members of the hunger strikers and show some humanity.”
Referring to the Irish republican hunger strike during the Troubles that resulted in the deaths of Bobby Sands and nine others, he added: “We should not repeat the hunger strike of 1981 and look back on events and wonder how things went so wrong when we now have the opportunity to put them right.”
Alam, a 33-year-old pharmacist, said on Monday the family was told Ahmed had been discharged late on Sunday night: “But we didn’t receive any phone calls from him, so we don’t know how he was or why he left.”
A repeated complaint from relatives and friends was that they were not informed when inmates were hospitalized.
Zuhrah is believed to still be in hospital after an ambulance arrived at HMP Bronzefield on Wednesday afternoon. Protesters gathered overnight Tuesday and accused prison staff of refusing to allow him to be transferred to urgent care.
Her friend Ella Moulsdale, 21, her next of kin, said last week: “Imagine… It’s someone you love and you don’t know if they’re alive or not… I have no confirmation that she was in the ambulance and being treated in hospital.”
Francesca Nadin, of Prisoners of Palestine, said: “Unlike the British government, hunger strikers cannot have a Christmas break as they remain locked in prison cells, away from their families. Their lives are in grave danger and they could die at any time. We have had to threaten the government with legal action to ensure justice for the prisoners and we will not stop until we achieve this.”
The legal letter sent by Imran Khan and Partners said the plaintiffs had a “legitimate expectation” from official policy documents that “the proposed defendant would convene a review meeting of individuals ‘likely to resolve the situation’, including those ‘recommended by the individual’, to ‘address the reasons for refusal’.”
It called for a response by 2pm on Tuesday “given the urgency of the situation regarding the deteriorating health of our customers”.
A Ministry of Justice spokesman said on Monday: “We strongly deny these allegations. We want these prisoners to accept support and recover, and we will not create perverse incentives to encourage more people to put themselves at risk through hunger strikes.”
All of the hunger strikers are in prison awaiting trial on charges related to alleged trespass or criminal damage during protests.
They will have spent more than a year in prison before being tried. Other hunger strikers on the current hunger strike are 31-year-old Heba Muraisi, who is on the 50th day, Teuta Hoxha, 29, who is on the 44th day, and 22-year-old Lewie Chiaramello, who refuses to eat every other day because he is diabetic, on the 16th day.
Alam said: “I really can’t put the words together [describe] How do I feel because how do you put into words what it means to have your little brother on the edge of the knife?”
There is apparently concern within the government about the situation of prisoners, but given the number of prisoners having to spend long periods of detention due to court backlogs, there is apparently extreme caution in setting a precedent even to facilitate a meeting with Lammy.
Officials have been told to provide regular updates, including how prisoners can be persuaded to change their minds and given support to do so.
But sources at the Ministry of Justice said the department had very limited authority to do more on legal recourse or medical aid that was not already offered. Deaths in custody from hunger strikes are very rare and most end the strike voluntarily, authorities said.
