Eight jailed supporters of Palestine Action in Britain have been on hunger strike for more than 30 days to protest their pre-trial detention after the government banned the pro-Palestinian group under terrorism laws in July.
Lawyers for the eight, who are being held in five different prisons and are awaiting trial, have warned that their clients could die if the protest continues. In a letter seen by the BBC, they asked Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary David Lammy for an urgent meeting, saying there was a “real and increasingly likely potential” the prisoners would die in custody.
The hunger strikers and their families say they are demanding that Palestine Action be removed from the list of banned terrorist organizations, that those held on remand be granted bail and guaranteed a fair trial, and that the government move to end the UK operations of Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.
They have also complained of harsh prison conditions, including being kept on water and homemade electrolyte solutions, censorship of books and letters and restrictions on their ability to express political views, and say they regard themselves as political prisoners who have not been convicted of any offense.
Longest prison hunger strike since the 1980s
The action has been described by campaigners and MPs as the longest coordinated prison hunger strike in Britain since the 1980s and has intensified a wider confrontation over the government’s use of terrorism legislation, the limits of protest, and media coverage of opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza. MPs and digital rights groups say the ban on Palestine Action could chill lawful activism and online expression.
According to the lawyers’ letter, two of the defendants have refused food for 37 days and five have spent periods in hospital since the protest began. All eight have been charged with offenses linked to alleged break-ins or damage to property carried out on behalf of Palestine Action, charges they deny. The alleged offenses took place before the group was proscribed under counterterrorism legislation.
Earlier, MPs John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn told the Speaker of the House of Commons that the government had not responded to their requests for information about the hunger strike and the prisoners’ condition.
Four of the detainees are accused of roles in a 2024 break-in at a defense company linked to Israel, with their trial not expected to begin before May next year. The other four are accused of breaking into the Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in June this year, where they allegedly caused millions of pounds’ worth of damage to two military aircraft.
Terrorism ban and online free-speech fears
British lawmakers banned Palestine Action in July under anti-terrorism law after the RAF Brize Norton protest. At the time, Palestine Action said two of its members entered the base, poured paint into the engines of a Voyager aircraft and caused further damage using metal bars. The group accuses the British government of complicity in what it describes as Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The decision to list Palestine Action as a terrorist organization places it in the same category as Hamas, Al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State group. Following the ban, digital rights organizations, journalists, and academics from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States sent a joint letter to Ofcom, the UK communications regulator, and major technology companies including Meta, Alphabet, X and ByteDance.
They said classifying Palestine Action as a terrorist group raised urgent questions about the role of regulators and social media platforms in protecting online free expression. The letter warned that the designation could restrict other forms of peaceful and lawful protest and expose people who show solidarity online, or who document alleged violations, to censorship and possible prosecution.
MP Zarah Sultana said the government was overseeing “the largest coordinated hunger strike since the 1980s”, arguing that proscribing the organization over its opposition to the war on Gaza had drawn widespread criticism. She added that what she described as a lack of media coverage was shocking and helped enable government measures she called “restrictions on freedom of expression”.
Media silence and protests at the BBC
Media coverage of the hunger strike and the ban has itself become a point of contention. This week, the website The Canary published reports criticizing what it called the BBC’s failure to cover the case, despite its human and political significance, and noted that smaller outlets were publishing daily updates while the public broadcaster remained silent.
Activists demonstrated outside the BBC’s headquarters in London, saying the lack of coverage showed clear bias, particularly amid wider criticism of how the media has reported the war on Gaza. The Canary quoted Lammy as saying he was “not aware” of the case, a remark that sparked anger among campaigners who said ignoring a protest of this scale was unjustified.
The government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action is itself facing a legal challenge. A three-day judicial review of the Home Office’s move to ban the group, brought in the High Court by co-founder Huda Ammori, concluded last week, with a ruling expected shortly.
Rights advocates say that if judges find the designation unlawful it could have far-reaching consequences, potentially undermining prosecutions of thousands of people charged under terrorism legislation for displaying slogans at demonstrations expressing opposition to genocide and support for Palestine Action.
