Three Palestine Action activists awaiting trial have ended their 73-day-long hunger strike protest in prison after the UK government decided not to award a major contract to the British subsidiary of an Israeli arms company. In a statement issued by their supporters said they had ended their protests at their respective prisons where they are being detained on remand. The Prisoners for Palestine group said in a statement on Wednesday that hunger strikers Kamran Ahmed, 28, Heba Muraisi, 31, and Lewie Chiaramello, 22,ended their strike after one of their "key" demands was achieved. Chiaramello, who has type 1 diabetes, had decided to refuse food every other day due to his underlying health condition. "Our prisoners' hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state," the group said. Four other detainees who 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. Supporters say the trio 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. 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 defense 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. The Times reported on Tuesday that Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of the Israeli arms manufacturer of the same name, had failed to win a $2.69bn contract to help train British soldiers. Citing an unnamed UK Ministry of Defence "insider", the news outlet said the department instead chose to award the contract to a rival consortium led by Raytheon UK. "The abrupt cancellation of this deal is a resounding victory for the hunger strikers, who resisted with their incarcerated bodies to shed light on the role of Elbit Systems, Israel's largest weapons manufacturer, in the colonisation and occupation of Palestine," Prisoners for Palestine said. For years, Palestinian rights activists have called on countries to divest from Elbit Systems over its role in supplying the Israeli military with weapons used in alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory. That includes the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where Israel's military assault has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The Palestine Action hunger-strikers were jailed over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems in Filton near Bristol in 2024. The British government proscribed Palestine Action in June of last year under the country's Terrorism Act 2000, making it illegal for people to join or express support for the group under penalty of up to 14 years in prison. Since then, scores of people have been detained at protests across the UK for expressing support for the group in what critics say is a draconian crackdown on freedom of speech and assembly. British MP John McDonnell hailed the hunger strikers' "dedication" in a social media post. "I want to say to them, thank you for all that you've done," said McDonnell, adding that the campaign "to ensure peace and justice for the Palestinian people" and to "end the complicity of the UK arms industry in the war crimes" being committed by Israel would continue. — Agencies
