‘How can you not know?’: Sister of Palestine Action hunger striker hits back at Lammy
The sister of a Palestine Action-affiliated prisoner currently on hunger strike has hit back at UK Justice Secretary David Lammy’s claims that he “did not know” about eight prisoners refusing food over their detention conditions.
The prisoners have been on a hunger strike for up to 40 days, to protest against their treatment and the proscription of the direct action protest group. Five of them have been hospitalised so far, with some reporting up to 12 kilograms of weight loss.
The prisoners, all accused of involvement with Palestine Action before it was proscribed in July, will have been in jail for over a year by the time they stand trial.
In Instagram footage, Shahmina Alam, sister of hunger striker Kamran Ahmed, confronted Lammy at a Christmas event. She told him that he and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) had failed to respond to a letter outlining the planned hunger strike and its participants’ demands.
When presented with the letter, Lammy said: “I didn’t know anything about this.”
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“How can you not know that there is a coordinated hunger strike happening within the UK prison system?” Alam told Middle East Eye.
“Or he does know and he just decided that he would lie, lie to me, the sister of one of the hunger strikers?”
Alam said Lammy told her: “I’ve only come here to turn on the [Christmas] lights.”
“And that's where you hear me then saying five of them have been hospitalised,” Alam said. “[He was] more concerned about the Christmas lights.”
When contacted for comment by MEE, a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The deputy prime minister is being kept informed of the situation.
"We continually assess prisoners’ wellbeing and will always take the appropriate action, including taking prisoners to hospital if they are assessed as needing treatment by a medical professional," the spokesperson added.
‘Totally unacceptable’
Pressure is mounting on Lammy, as Labour MP John McDonnell told the House of Commons speaker on Wednesday that he had written to the deputy prime minister regarding the strikers and had not received a response.
"I informed his office yesterday I'd be raising a point of order. We gave it another day. We still haven't had a response to that letter. This is a matter of urgency,” McDonnell said.
MP Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons' speaker, said Lammy’s lack of response was “totally unacceptable”.
On Wednesday, Lammy responded to another letter written by MP Jeremy Corbyn on 20 November requesting an urgent meeting regarding one of the hunger strikers, Amu Gib, one of his constituents.
“Considering the ongoing proceedings, it would not be appropriate for me to meet with you to discuss the situation in any greater detail,” Lammy wrote.
“I do wish to reiterate [the prison services'] commitment to the safety of all who live and work in our prisons, and to treating all prisoners fairly and equally, regardless of their background.”
MEE previously contacted the MOJ regarding a statement by MP Zarah Sultana, in which she called Lammy’s claim that he had no knowledge of the hunger strikers a “lie”.
A ministry spokesperson said: “The reporting is wrong. The letter in question was delegated to an appropriate minister as is usual with departmental correspondence.”
Meanwhile, the prisoners’ lawyers have written to Lammy, warning that the hunger strikers are at risk of dying.
“We note with genuine and significant concern the immediate and real risk that their deeply held conviction, in tandem with their deteriorating health, poses to their lives,” the letter reads.
“We are concerned that, should this situation be allowed to continue without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offence.”
Kept in the dark
Ahmed, who launched his strike on 2 November, was hospitalised for a second time on Monday.
The campaign group supporting the hunger strikers, Prisoners for Palestine (PFP), reported that Ahmed’s ketone levels – which indicate blood acidity – stood at dangerous levels before his hospitalisation.
Alam told MEE that ECG (electrocardiogram) tests only revealed that Ahmed’s pulse was slowing before he was taken to hospital. But the family have received no further updates and have been unable to communicate with him since he was hospitalised.
“We actually don’t know what’s happening with him in hospital,” Alam said.
MEE previously reported that the family were not notified by the prison when Ahmed was first hospitalised, despite multiple calls and emails from Alam and her partner requesting information.
The MOJ said it is "legally prevented from passing out prisoner healthcare information over the phone to unverified callers".
Alam said her family have once again been kept in the dark.
“Like the last time, we've been cut from communication with him and we're unable to get updates,” she said.
“They said we can try and get updates through the prison, but last time the experience was horrendous and we got no support from the prison staff or the senior staff that was there.”
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