Two Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners taking part in a hunger strike have been taken to hospital, as their next of kin and MPs expressed concern over prison conditions and called for immediate government intervention.
Amu Gib, 30, who was being held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey while awaiting trial, is on day 50 of their hunger strike and 28-year-old Kamran Ahmed was being held at Pentonville prison in London and on day 42 of his hunger strike. The two are the latest of eight prisoners who have been admitted to hospital since the hunger strike action began on Balfour day, 2 November, according to Prisoners for Palestine.
Gib was provided with a wheelchair on Friday and taken to hospital on Saturday.
The prisoner-led collective in Britain said hunger strikers will die unless there is urgent government intervention. “They are in the custody of the state and any harm that comes to them is a deliberate outcome of the government’s negligence and the politicisation of their detention,” the collective said.
MPs have written to the government expressing concerns over the delay in medical assistance and limited communication with families. Lawyers representing prisoners have criticised the justice secretary, David Lammy, for refusing to meet them.
A friend of Gib’s and next of kin, Jessica Dolliver, was due to visit Gib in prison on Sunday morning, when a call came from the prison. “I just wasn’t surprised because I could see that Amu was deteriorating and I could also hear on the phone,” said Dolliver, 28.
On Friday Gib wrote in the Guardian of their solidarity with Palestinians.
It is understood Gib is on remand on suspicion of being involved in the break-in at Brize Norton airbase in June, when two military aircraft were defaced with spray paint.
Gib is one of three prisoners, along with Qesser Zuhrah and Jon Cink, who has been admitted to hospital.
A HMP Bronzefield spokesperson said: “We cannot provide information about specific individuals. However, we can confirm that all prisoners have full access to healthcare, including attendance at external medical facilities if needed.
“Any prisoner refusing food receives regular medical assessment and support from clinicians, as well as being offered mental health support.”
The former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is Gib’s MP and has visited the 30-year-old in detention, on Sunday wrote a letter to the prisons inspectorate raising concerns over “inconsistent and unreliable” health treatment to those on hunger strike.
The letter was also signed by MPs John McDonnell and Barry Gardiner. “We are dismayed to learn that, as they near their eighth week on hunger strike, their treatment remains inconsistent and unreliable,” the letter says.
Last week, Corbyn and more than 50 MPs urged Lammy to meet the lawyers of those on hunger strike. “Our inquiries have either gone unanswered or, when answered have been vague reassurances that all policies and guidelines are being followed. However, we continue to hear from the prisoners and their loved ones daily that this is not the case,” the letter said.
The prisons minister, Lord Timpson, has previously said the service is “very experienced” at dealing with hunger strikes and has “robust and working” systems in place and the Prison Service “will not be meeting” any prisoners or their representatives.
