Palestine Action Prisoner on Brink of Thirst Strike

A Palestine Action-linked remand prisoner on hunger strike intends to begin refusing water from Saturday if the government does not engage with his demands. 

Umer Khalid, 22, has been on hunger strike for 13 consecutive days after restarting his strike on 10 January. Khalid is currently receiving fluids with electrolytes, sugars and salts, but maintains that he will go on thirst strike if Keir Starmer’s government continues to refuse a meeting with him. 

A close friend of Khalid told Novara Media that the prospect of him refusing water is “terrifying”.  

Dr Jonathan Fluxman, a retired GP with experience of assessing patients in prisons and immigration removal centres, told Novara Media that rapid dehydration from refusing fluids can cause kidney failure, heart rhythm disturbances, shock and loss of consciousness. 

“Most people survive no more than three to five days,” Dr Fluxman said.   

The amount of time experts say the human body can survive without food and water varies and is impacted by age and health. While the average is between three and five days, there are reports of people surviving for between eight and 21 days. 

Khalid’s close friend Danyal Osman told Novara Media: “I don’t think anybody ever imagines that someone they care for so deeply would be forced into a position such as this, where they have to take such extreme measures just to be heard and respected.”

Khalid is calling for immediate bail, an end to alleged prison censorship, an inquiry into alleged British involvement in Israeli military operations in Gaza, and the release of surveillance footage from the RAF spy flights that flew over Gaza on 1 April 2024, when three British aid workers were among seven World Central Kitchen staff killed in an IDF attack.

Osman added: “[Khalid] hasn’t hurt anybody, he never would, so why are the government treating him as if his life is worthless? He is, in fact, worth a great deal to us all, and a far better person than anybody in government currently shying away from their responsibilities over him.”

Khalid has a rare genetic condition called limb girdle muscular dystrophy (LGMD) which causes gradual weakening of the muscles, mainly around the hips, thighs, shoulders and upper arms. 

Dr Fluxman said the prolonged starvation of a hunger strike in a person with LGMD is “substantially more risky than for someone without the condition”. He also highlighted that someone with LGMD who refuses water is “likely to decompensate [maintain adequate physiological function] faster” with arrhythmias, renal failure or respiratory failure occurring sooner. 

Khalid is charged in connection to an alleged Palestine Action break-in and the spray painting of two RAF Voyager planes at an airbase in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire. He is currently being held on remand in HMP Wormwood Scrubs and is not expected to face trial until January 2027. 

Khalid, Lewis Chiaramello, Jony Cink, Amu Gib, and Daniel Jeronymides-Norie – also known as the Brize Norton 5 – all deny charges of damaging property and entering a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and/or interests of the UK. 

Khalid is one of eight Palestine Action-linked prisoners who took part in a rolling hunger strike from November last year, believed to be the biggest since the 1981 Irish republican hunger strike led by Bobby Sands. They are variously part of the Brize Norton 5 and Filton 24, the latter of whom are charged with criminal damage and aggravated burglary at an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, Gloucestershire. They deny all charges. 

Khalid is the only Palestine Action detainee still on hunger strike. Kamran Ahmed and Heba Muraisi ended their hunger strikes after 66 days and 73 days respectively on 14 January. Chiaramello, who has diabetes, stopped refusing food every other day on the same date. Teuta ‘T’ Hoxha ended her strike after 58 days on 5 January, while Cink, Gib and Qesser Zuhrah also stopped their hunger strikes earlier in December. 

The hunger strikers claimed last week’s announcement that Elbit Systems lost out on a £2bn contract to train British troops as a major win among “various victories” achieved across the duration of the hunger strike.