Palestine Action Prisoners Announce Hunger-Strike in Letter to British Government

The following press release has been issued by Prisoners4Palestine and is being published here in full.

Today, Monday 20th October, a letter was delivered to the Home Office, informing them of a forthcoming hunger-strike by pro-Palestine prisoners held in British jails. The prisoners are members of the Filton 24 and Brize Norton 5, respectively, and are being held in prison, unconvicted, accused of taking part in two separate actions, claimed by the currently proscribed group, Palestine Action.

The Filton 24 are a group of activists who have all been imprisoned in relation to a Palestine Action raid on the Research, Development, and Manufacturing Hub of Israel’s biggest weapons maker Elbit Systems, located at Filton, Bristol. In the action, which took place in August 2024, a group of activists drove a modified prison van through the facility’s perimeter fence, and on through the shuttered entrance. Six activists then entered the building, and began dismantling production machinery, as well as Elbit-produced quadcopter drones, which have been used throughout the Gaza Genocide.

The 6 activists were arrested at the site, but later, while in police custody, they were re-arrested under counter-terrorism legislation, which allowed the authorities to extend their detention period. They were later charged with non-terror offences, and remanded in custody.

Over the following months, in a series of dawn raids, a further 18 activists were arrested, often along with family members, who were later released. The police again used counter-terror laws, and while they have never been charged with terrorist offences, the prosecution have alleged a ‘terrorism connection’. All have been denied bail, and been subject to various abuses by the prison authorities, such as the withholding of mail. The treatment of the Filton 24 has been widely condemned, not least by the United Nations.

In June of this year, activists entered RAF Brize Norton, and sprayed blood-red paint on 2 Voyager aircraft leased by the RAF. Brize Norton has served as a transport and re-fuelling hub for flights to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, from where daily flights have been dispatched to spy over Gaza. The Brize Norton action was cited by former Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, in proscribing Palestine Action as a supposed terrorist group, though in fact evidence shows proscription had been planned for some time previously. Five people have been remanded in custody in relation to Brize Norton, with the police following a similar modus operandi to the Filton case.

With some of these prisoners now having spent over a year in custody, without trial, and with their treatment having deteriorated following the proscription of Palestine Action, they feel they have no option, but to go on hunger-strike to fight for fairer treatment.

The prisoners will start their hunger strike on 2nd November, Balfour Day, the anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, and just 2 weeks before the start of the first of the 3 Filton 24 trials. The hunger-strike aims to highlight the conditions of the prisoners’ incarceration, and set out a series of demands to the British government. These demands include the right to a fair trial, release on bail, and the dropping of all terror-related charges.

Two previously imprisoned activists, Francesca Nadin and Audrey Corno, who are now part of the Prisoners for Palestine collective, who advocate for the prisoners and their supporters, handed the letter announcing the protest to the Home Office today. They stated:

“This is a historic moment. The government must make the correct decision and give the prisoners the basic legal rights that they have been denied. The government has left the prisoners with no other option but to hunger strike for their freedom and justice.” 

“The prisoners are firm in the knowledge that they have massive support both here and internationally, and that the people will come together to take action in their name. This is a direct result of not only the government’s appalling actions towards the prisoners, but also their active participation in the genocide in Gaza.”

Dr Asim Qureshi, Research Director at CAGE International, who are also negotiating partners for the hunger strikers alongside Prisoners for Palestine, said

“This hunger strike, if it goes ahead, will be the first of its kind in at least two decades. It brings into sharp focus the violence of the carceral system in the UK, a violence we often associate with places afar. From Guantánamo to Gaza, the infrastructure of authoritarian terror laws built to imprison, silence, and suppress action for Palestine and voices challenging wars and genocide must be dismantled. Prisoners are the beating heart of our movement for justice. We must honour their sacrifices and stand up to challenge the injustices they face.”

There are currently 33 prisoners being held on remand in British prisons for Palestine-related actions.