‘Dying is worth it,’ says UK Palestine Action hunger-striker facing risk of death
A Palestine Action activist who has been on hunger strike for 42 days while held on remand without trial says protest is worth the risk of dying.
Kamran Ahmed, 28, is one of six Palestine Action activists on hunger strike while facing charges they deny, linked to actions carried out before the group was proscribed as a “terrorist organization” by the UK government.
Speaking by telephone to The Times from prison, Ahmed said that his physical condition has deteriorated sharply, with symptoms including chest pains, shaking, and critically low blood sugar levels.
He said prison medical staff warned him he may not wake up if he continues. “Every day I’m scared that potentially I might die,” Ahmed said. “But this is bigger than me.”
Ahmed said, “I’ve been scared since the seventh day when my blood sugars dropped," but according to him, the risks were outweighed by a wider political cause and solidarity with his co-defendants.
conviction.
Lawyers representing the prisoners warned that the hunger strikers are at risk of death without intervention from Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy.
Solicitors sent an urgent request for a meeting earlier this month, citing the risk of their clients’ health deteriorating “beyond any possible recovery.” Lammy’s subsequent reply did not directly address their request.
The activists’ demands include immediate bail, lifting the ban on the direct-action group, and ending restrictions on their communications.
In July, the UK government banned Palestine Action under the "Terrorism Act," citing the group’s targeting of companies linked to Israel’s military industry.
The organization has focused much of its campaign on Elbit Systems UK, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, which it says had supplied weapons to the Israeli military during the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Since the ban on the group, hundreds of people across the UK have faced arrest for opposing the ban and holding placards that mostly read, "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action."
The activists say the charges are politically motivated and intended to silence opposition to the UK government’s support for Israel.
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