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To the authorities of the United Kingdom:
We, the undersigned, constitute to you contiguous arsenic survivors of authorities violence.
We are a corporate of erstwhile hunger strikers from Palestine, Ireland and Guantánamo Bay. Hunger strikes extremity lone erstwhile powerfulness intervenes, oregon erstwhile radical die. We learned, done pain, imperishable damage, and watching our comrades fall, however states behave erstwhile prisoners person nary prime but to garbage the lone close afforded to them: food.
As such, we constitute successful uncompromising solidarity with the hunger strikers held contiguous successful British prisons: Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed, Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Lewie Chiaramello, and Muhammad Umer Khalid. They are imprisoned connected remand, without proceedings and without conviction. For some, their remand has lasted implicit a year, and for most, they volition not spot proceedings for two.
The UK authorities has chosen prolonged remand, isolation and their censorship. It has chosen to restrict their interaction with loved ones, let aesculapian neglect, and deployed the connection of panic successful an insidious effort to deliberately portion these prisoners of nationalist sympathy and basal rights earlier immoderate proceedings takes place.
We cannot hide what the hunger strikers contiguous basal for. They basal for Palestine. They basal for dismantling the infrastructure of weapons that kills Palestinians. They basal for the extremity of the apartheid authorities implemented by the Israeli government. They basal successful solidarity with the Palestinian prisoners. They basal for the implicit liberation of Palestine, from the stream to the sea.
For years, Palestinian prisoners person been subjected to systematic maltreatment wrong Israeli prisons, including well-documented torture, utmost intersexual violence, aesculapian neglect, and decease successful custody. Yet, the UK government, done its unwavering enactment for the Israeli authorities continues to take to beryllium complicit successful its actions. It chooses to proceed to limb Israel and shield Israeli officials from accountability portion Palestinian bodies – men, women and children – are violated and destroyed successful their streets, successful their homes, and down bars.
The Palestine Action governmental prisoners began their hunger onslaught erstwhile they had nary different choice. The state’s determination to trust connected the usage of the classification of “terror” to enforce the systematic repression of those who garbage to conform has near them with nary different alternate arsenic they question the rights they are entitled to by law.
This is not a caller phenomenon: the usage of the connection “terror” has agelong been utilized to manufacture fear, to poison nationalist perception, to warrant the repeated usurpation of adjacent the astir basal quality rights. Once this statement is attached, rights go conditional, liberty becomes transactional, and the presumption of innocence evaporates. The regularisation of instrumentality that is truthful proudly claimed to beryllium upheld is swiftly desecrated successful the look of a singular word, deployed by unscrupulous politicians determined to support their ain interests: “terrorist”.
The proscription of Palestine Action was not astir safety. It was astir control. The repeated and flagrant breaches of sub judice were not astir convincing the nationalist that this was a unsafe organisation; it was astir condemning the prisoners earlier they stood trial. It was astir isolating them, criminalising solidarity, and sending a informing to anyone who mightiness talk oregon organise against the Israeli warfare machine.
No proceedings held nether an ambiance of state-manufactured fearfulness tin beryllium deemed arsenic fair, and nary assemblage exposed to decades of coercion rhetoric tin run escaped of bias. These prisoners were smeared the infinitesimal the announcement of their apprehension made notation of a “terrorism connection”, contempt those proceedings not having taken place.
We truthful request the following:
1. An urgent ministerial gathering with families and ineligible representatives to hold connected actions that volition sphere the lives of the hunger strikers. Immediate bail for the Palestine Action prisoners (known arsenic the Filton 24) and each hunger strikers.
2. Dropping of panic charges designed to criminalise dissent.
3. Fair proceedings conditions escaped from fear-driven communicative and governmental interference.
4. Immediate entree to autarkic aesculapian attraction chosen by the prisoners.
5. An extremity to censorship and restrictions connected household visits.
In 1981, Britain chose to fto the Irish hunger strikers dice successful the Long Kesh prison. In the 2000s, Britain chose soundlessness implicit the plight of the detainees astatine Guantánamo Bay. For decades, Britain – on with different governments – continued to take inaction successful Palestine. Each time, British officials claimed work rested elsewhere. Each time, past recorded the truth.
The Suffragettes, contempt being force-fed and labelled arsenic terrorists, are contiguous celebrated arsenic heroes and state fighters. The Long Kesh prisoners, contempt the smears they faced, are present seen arsenic a captious portion of the bid achieved nether the Good Friday Agreement. The Guantánamo Bay prisoners, contempt their inhumane attraction and nationalist consent for torture, remained untried and were mostly released without conviction.
Just arsenic they were each vindicated, past volition excessively vindicate the Palestine Action prisoners who sought to halt the slaughter of guiltless people, against the wishes and interests of the British government.
We are not simply observers, but witnesses to the injustice presently being dispensed by the hands of the authorities against radical who past volition nary uncertainty vindicate, arsenic it has done those hunger strikers who person gone before.
Signatories:
Shadi Zayed Saleh Odeh, Palestine
Mahmoud Radwan, Palestine
Othman Bilal, Palestine
Mahmoud Sidqi Suleiman Radwan, Palestine
Loay Odeh, Palestine
Tommy McKearney, Ireland
Laurence McKeown, Ireland
Tom McFeely, Ireland
John Nixon, Ireland
Mansoor Adayfi (GTMO441), Guantanamo
Lakhdar Boumediene, Guantanamo
Samir Naji Moqbel, Guantanamo
Moath Al-Alwi, Guantanamo
Khalid Qassim, Guantanamo
Ahmed Rabbani, Guantanamo
Sharqawi Al-Hajj, Guantanamo
Saeed Sarim, Guantanamo
Mahmoud Al Mujahid, Guantanamo
Hussein Al-Marfadi, Guantanamo
Osama Abu Kabir, Guantanamo
Abdul Halim Siddiqui, Guantanamo
Ahmed Adnan Ahjam, Guantanamo
Abdel Malik Al Rahabi, Guantanamo
Ahmed Elrashidi, Guantanamo
The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the authors’ ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
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