JOHANNESBURG

Several civil society groups in South Africa called Monday for the freedom of pro-Palestine hunger strikers in British jails, saying their continued incarceration risks their lives.

“Some of the hunger strikers have now passed the 50-day mark without food and may die if urgent action is not taken,” the group said in a joint statement shared with Anadolu.

“We urge Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to reflect on the historical consequences of a Thatcherite response to the hunger strike that led to the deaths of Bobby Sands and nine other Irish Republican political prisoners in 1981,” the more than 20 organizations said.

They said the action remains a moral stain on British history and it appears that the Labour Party is pursuing the same trajectory.

“We call on people of conscience in South Africa and across the world to demand that they (hunger strikers) are granted immediate bail and that their fundamental right to fair, transparent and timely trials is upheld,” the statement said.

The hunger striking prisoners are accused of breaking into the UK subsidiary of the Israeli defense firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.

The civil society groups said five of the hunger strikers are under the age of 31, with the youngest being 20 years old, and their health condition is critical.

The hunger strikers include Qesser Zuhrah, Teuta Hoxha, Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Amu Gib.

Gib and Ahmed have been hospitalized, while Zuhrah is starting to lose her vision, Muraisi is losing her memory and Hoxha has dangerously low blood sugar levels and her skin is turning grey, the group said.

“Their colleague Lewie Chiaramello is on a partial hunger strike due to diabetes, while Jon Cink and Umer Khalid – who has muscular dystrophy – recently stopped their hunger strike after being hospitalized.’’

The hunger strikers are demanding an end to all prison censorship of their communication, including the withholding of letters, phone calls and books.

They want immediate bail for all members of the Palestine Action group currently being held in UK prisons, the right to a fair and timely trial for all Palestine Action prisoners and the de-proscription of Palestine Action and removal of its “terror” classification. They are also calling for the shutdown of all Elbit Systems sites and subsidiaries operating in the UK.