Families and supporters of Palestine Action-affiliated hunger strikers have pleaded with David Lammy to meet them in an attempt to end the impasse over the protest that has left some of them severely unwell.
On Monday, as the protest reached a dangerous stage, lawyers for the hunger strikers sent a legal letter claiming that by refusing a meeting the justice secretary had failed to comply with the Ministry of Justice’s own policy on handling of hunger strikes.
The intervention came after three of the prisoners were simultaneously in hospital on Sunday: Qesser Zuhrah, 20, and Amu Gib, 30, who have been refusing food for 51 days and Kamran Ahmed, 28, who is on day 43 of his hunger strike.
For Ahmed, it was the third time he has been hospitalised, with his condition now beyond the point of urgency, his sister Shahmina Alam told the Guardian.
Asked if she had a message for Lammy, Alam said: “There’s still time to do better, better for the citizens of the UK in ending the UK complicity in the ongoing genocide [by Israel in Gaza], by supporting the prisoners that are putting their lives on the line to ensure transparency and integrity in our justice and government systems.
“He has a choice. He can say something and he can do something about this and meet with the solicitors or family members of the hunger strikers and he can show a bit of humanity.”
Referring to the Irish republican hunger strike during the Troubles that culminated in the death of Bobby Sands and nine others, she added: “We should not repeat the hunger strike of 1981, and we should not have to look at things in retrospect and wonder how things went so wrong when we have an opportunity to fix it now.”
Alam, 33, a pharmacist, said that the family were told on Monday that Ahmed was discharged late on Sunday night “but we haven’t received any phone call from him, so we don’t know how he’s doing or why he went in the first place”.
A repeated complaint of relatives and friends has been that they have not received updates when the prisoners are hospitalised.
Zuhrah is believed to still be in hospital after an ambulance arrived at HMP Bronzefield on Wednesday afternoon. Protesters gathered overnight on Tuesday accusing prison staff of refusing to allow her transfer to emergency care.
Her designated next of kin, her friend Ella Moulsdale, 21, said last week: “Imagine … someone you love and not knowing if they’re alive … I have no confirmation that she was inside that ambulance, that she is being treated in the hospital.”
Francesca Nadin, of Prisoners for Palestine, said: “Unlike the British government, the hunger strikers cannot take a Christmas holiday, as they continue to be locked up in prison cells, suffering immensely away from their families. Their lives are in grave danger and they may die at any moment. We have been forced to threaten the government with legal action to get justice for the prisoners, and will not stop until we achieve that.”
The legal letter, sent by Imran Khan and Partners, said the claimants had a “legitimate expectation” from official policy documents “that the proposed defendant would convene a review meeting of individuals ‘most likely to bring about the resolution of the situation’, including ‘those suggested by the individual’ refusing food, to ‘address the reasons for their refusal’”.
It called for a reply by 2pm on Tuesday “given the urgency of the situation in respect of our clients’ deteriorating health”.
All the hunger strikers are in prison awaiting trial charged with offences relating to alleged break-ins or criminal damage during protest actions.
They will have served more than a year in jail before standing trial. The other current hunger strikers are Heba Muraisi, 31, who is on day 50, Teuta Hoxha, 29, who is on day 44, and Lewie Chiaramello, 22, who is refusing food every other day, because he has diabetes, and is on day 16.
Alam said: “I can’t really get the words together to [describe] how I feel because how do you put into words what it means when your baby brother is on a knife’s edge?”
There is understood to be concern in government about the condition of the prisoners, but also extreme caution about setting a precedent even to facilitate a meeting with Lammy, given the number of prisoners who are forced to spend lengthy periods on remand because of the court backlog.
Officials have been told to give regular updates, including on how the prisoners can be persuaded to change their minds and be given support to do so.
But sources at the Ministry of Justice said there were very limited powers for the department to do more in terms of legal recourse or medical help that was not already being offered. Deaths in custody from hunger strikes were very rare, officials said, and most ended their strikes voluntarily.
A government spokesperson said: “While it’s very concerning, clearly hunger strikes are not a new issue for our prisons. Over the last five years alone, we’ve averaged more than 200 a year. We have longstanding procedures in place to ensure prisoner safety and prison healthcare teams provide NHS care. They continuously monitor the situation.
“[HM Prison & Probation Service] have been clear that claims that hospital care is being refused are entirely misleading. They will always be taken when needed, and indeed a number of these prisoners have already been treated in hospital, but these prisoners are charged with serious offences including aggravated burglary and criminal damage.”
