The pair have refused food for 67 and 60 days respectively as part of a rolling protest that began in November. Of the eight people who have taken part in the protest, five have ended their hunger strikes due to serious health concerns.
Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed, British activists linked to Palestine Action and now close to death, are determined to continue their hunger strike in prison until their demands are met, according to friends and family members.
The pair have refused food for 67 and 60 days respectively as part of a rolling protest that began in November. Of the eight people who have taken part in the protest, five have ended their hunger strikes due to serious health concerns.
A third prisoner, Lewie Chiaramello, who turned 23 on Thursday, is also still refusing food.
Muraisi, the longest-fasting member of the group, “looks extremely pale and thin,” said her friend Amareen Afzal, who visited the 31-year-old on Wednesday. “Her cheekbones are very pronounced. She appears severely emaciated.”
Muraisi, a London-based former florist and lifeguard, is reportedly experiencing muscle spasms, shortness of breath, intense pain and a dangerously low white blood cell count. She has been hospitalised three times in the past nine weeks.
Afzal added that Muraisi’s memory has noticeably deteriorated, making it “harder for her to stay engaged in conversation”.
“She talks about herself as dying, and she is fully aware and deeply worried,” Afzal said.
Despite this, Muraisi remains “determined to continue until the demands are met,” she added.
The group of remand prisoners is being held in different prisons over alleged involvement in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of Israeli defence company Elbit Systems in Bristol and at a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire. They deny all charges.
Lawyers representing the group are seeking a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy to discuss the prisoners’ welfare.
However, despite criticism from doctors, United Nations experts, some politicians and senior lawyers, the government has declined, stating that hunger strikes are not uncommon in prisons and that established policies on food refusal are being followed.
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