Two Palestine Action protesters end 73-day hunger strike

Two alleged Palestine Action activists who are awaiting trial have ended a hunger strike protest in prison, seemingly bringing to an end protests that have taken place for 73 days.

In a statement issued by their supporters, Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed said they had ended their protests at their respective prisons where they are being detained on remand.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not commented on the action over the last two months, but it has not previously disputed accounts from supporters that the hunger strikes were taking place.

Four other detainees who - along with Muraisi and Ahmed - began their strikes in early November, ceased their protests last month.

All of them have been objecting to the time on remand ahead of trials, which are up to a year away due to the unprecedented court backlogs.

The BBC understands that Ahmed was taken to hospital earlier on Wendesday in a very poorly condition.

Supporters say the pair have now joined Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Qesser Zuhrah and Amy Gardiner-Gibson, also known as Amu Gib, in receiving medical re-feeding treatment overseen by doctors, as set out in guidelines for the management of hunger strikes in prisons.

A seventh detainee who was refusing food every other day due to an underlying health condition has also ended his protest.

During the protest the group had made five demands including that the UK government lifts the ban on Palestine Action, closes down an Israeli-owned defence firm and addresses complaints about their prison conditions and treatment.

The ban on the organisation was already being considered independently by senior judges. Bail decisions are taken by judges not the government, with ministers having no role in deciding who is remanded ahead of a trial.

Shortly before Christmas, lawyers for the hunger strikers had threatened legal action over their treatment.

Ministers said neither they, nor MoJ officials, would meet the protesters, but the government offered to facilitate a meeting between the protesters' representatives and medical professionals inside the jails to brief them on the care being offered.

The protesters took up that offer two weeks after it was made.

The MoJ has vehemently denied clams of medical mistreatment and the Care Quality Commission, a watchdog, has not opened any investigation.

It confirmed to the BBC its experts had spoken to medical staff at HMP Bronzefield, one of the prisons where the protest was taking place.

There are about 200 hunger strikes a year in prisons and nine people have died as a result of the protests since 1999.

Hunger strikes are deemed to be part of the right to protest under human rights law, which means the state no longer has any power to forcibly feed a prisoner, unless doctors conclude they lack the mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions.

If a prisoner understands the risk that they may die and has made their wishes clear, doctors will not give them food, even if it would save their life.