The Palestine Action hunger strikers close to death – podcast | Palestine Action

Kamran Ahmed was arrested in a dawn raid, 19 November 2024. Now he is one of 24 prisoners awaiting trial for allegedly causing more than £1m worth of damage to a research centre in Gloucestershire owned by the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. He has been on hunger strike at HMP Pentonville for 59 days, and is one of three remaining Palestine Action activists refusing food.

The Guardian’s legal correspondent, Haroon Siddique, has been in touch with him, and tells Nosheen Iqbal that he put some questions to Ahmed via an intermediary. The 28-year-old told Siddique: “I’m worried, but being scared does not mean for one second I am not willing. I intend to continue my hunger strike. Perhaps they wait for me to leave in a body bag. The way my chest hurts when I speak, it doesn’t feel too far in the near future.”

Ahmed’s family are terrified that what he sees as an act of resistance could cost him his life. His sister Shamina told Iqbal: “People keep bringing up the Irish hunger strike and comparing the days before deaths took place, and when you’re seeing those comparisons, yeah, it’s deeply scary to think about a thought where your younger brother may not be here, you might outlive him.”

Siddique explains the government’s response and why Ahmed and seven others took this extreme measure.