Imprisoned hunger striker linked to Palestine Action tells friend: ‘I’m dying’ | Palestine Action
A prisoner affiliated with Palestine Action, who was on the 71st day of his hunger strike, said to his friend, “I’m dying.”
Francesca Nadin visited Heba Muraisi, 31, at HMP New Hall in Wakefield on Saturday for the first time since the protest began and said she was surprised by her friend’s appearance.
“I was shocked to see how skinny he was, like a paper thing – so I shouldn’t have been shocked,” Nadin said. “When I hugged her I felt like if I hugged her too much I would break her. She has to wear a face mask right now because her immune system is so low, but even so I could see how her eyes were sunken… She said she now has a hard time sitting for long periods of time because she’s lost all her fat, basically just sitting on her bones.”
“He’s dying. He said: ‘I’m dying.’ His body shuts down. I know he will remain mentally strong until the last moment, but he is dying. By imprisoning him and denying him all his rights, the government is not just letting him die, they are actively killing him.”
Muraisi said he was experiencing chest pains and “twitching on the side of his chest”, raising concerns he may be at risk of heart failure. His sister said that 28-year-old hunger striker Kamran Ahmed, who was on his 64th day, was told by doctors that his heart muscles had shrunk, his heart rate had dropped to 40 beats per minute and he was at risk of a sudden heart attack.
22-year-old Lewie Chiaramello, who has type 1 diabetes, fasts every other day for 44 days. On Saturday, 22-year-old Umar Khalid, one of the five prisoners who had previously suspended his hunger strike, started the strike again.
Their main demands are a fair trial, immediate bail (all will have served more than 18 months in prison before being tried for activities related to Palestine Action), a ban on Palestine Action, the closure of Israeli arms company Elbit Systems’ facilities in the UK and an end to censorship of prisoners’ communications.
Other demands include moving Muraisi back to HMP Bronzefield, where he was transferred last year to HMP New Hall, as it is hundreds of kilometers away from his family and support system.
Nadin said the following while in detention: Participation in the Palestine Action protest He said he spent time in the cell where Muraisi now lives, and that supporters of the hunger strikers “wake up every day filled with fear, pain and sadness.”
On Monday, authors Naomi Klein, Angela Davis, Judith Butler, Sally Rooney, Kamila Shamsie and China Miéville met with global scholars. Declaration of solidarity to hunger strikers. A slogan similar to the slogan on the banner Greta Thunberg carried when she was arrested on December 23 is: “We are against genocide, we support the prisoners of Palestine Action.”
Prof Peter Hallward of Kingston University, one of dozens of academic signatories to the declaration, said: “The UK is now perilously close to a full descent into authoritarian rule. Ministers are not even meeting hunger strikers who are now on the verge of death.” [They] “They appear fully prepared to allow this country’s most determined and courageous opponents of the ongoing genocide to perish and die.”
The government has been approached for comment.
