62 MPs have added their names
62 MPs have now signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) in parliament calling for the justice secretary David Lammy to intervene to ensure that six remand prisoners currently on hunger strike have their human rights upheld. This is equivalent to almost one in ten MPs in the UK.
The hunger strikers are all on remand having been accused of a series of offences related to activities taken by Palestine Action. They have denied the charges against them, all of which relate to alleged activities which took place prior to Palestine Action being proscribed as a terrorist organisation, and all have been denied bail. They are therefore awaiting trial and have not been convicted of the offences which they are accused of committing, but are nonetheless held in prison.
The hunger strikers are demanding they be granted bail, for Lammy to meet with their legal representatives, for the right to a fair trial and for Palestine Action to be de-proscribed. They are also calling for freedom of expression while they are in prison and an end to what they have described as censorship while in prison, claiming that they have had phone calls blocked, visits disrupted, letters go missing and books banned.
The longest standing hunger strikers have now been refusing food for 48 days. Some of them have now been hospitalised, with their supporters saying their strike has left their health at a ‘critical’ stage.
In signing the EDM, MPs have expressed “extreme concern that six prisoners associated with Palestine Action have felt that they had no other recourse to protest against their prison conditions but to launch a hunger strike” and called for Lammy to “intervene urgently to ensure their treatment is humane and their human rights are upheld”.
The EDM was tabled by Labour MP John McDonnell and has attracted support from MPs from a wide range of different parties. The full list of signatories is as follows:
- John McDonnell (Labour)
- Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour)
- Brian Leishman (Labour)
- Diane Abbott (Independent)
- Ellie Chowns (Green)
- Andrew George (Lib Dem)
- Imran Hussain (Labour)
- Adnan Hussain (Independent)
- Nadia Whittome (Labour)
- Zarah Sultana (Your Party)
- Jeremy Corbyn (Independent)
- Apsana Begum (Labour)
- Andy McDonald (Labour)
- Jon Trickett (Labour)
- Colum Eastwood (SDLP)
- Clive Lewis (Labour)
- Ian Byrne (Labour)
- Richard Burgon (Labour)
- Brendan O’Hara (SNP)
- Shockat Adam (Independent)
- Ayoub Khan (Independent)
- Seamus Logan (SNP)
- Graham Leadbitter (SNP)
- Adrian Ramsay (Green)
- Claire Hanna (SDLP)
- Chris Law (SNP)
- Kim Johnson (Labour)
- Carla Denyer (Green)
- Sian Berry (Green)
- Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour)
- Alex Sobel (Labour)
- Iqbal Mohamed (Independent)
- Lis Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru)
- Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru)
- Ann Davies (Plaid Cymru)
- Llinos Medi (Plaid Cymru)
- Simon Opher (Labour)
- Mary Kelly Foy (Labour)
- Dave Doogan (SNP)
- Steve Witherden (Labour)
- Cat Smith (Labour)
- Abtisam Mohamed (Labour)
- Douglas McAllister (Labour)
- Cat Eccles (Labour)
- Kirsty Blackman (SNP)
- Kate Osborne (Labour)
- Patricia Ferguson (Labour)
- Rebecca Long-Bailey (Labour)
- Chris Hinchliff (Labour)
- Stephen Flynn (SNP)
- Pete Wishart (SNP)
- Ian Roome (Lib Dem)
- Rachael Maskell (Labour)
- Stephen Gethins (SNP)
- Olivia Blake (Labour)
- Grahame Morris (Labour)
- Tahir Ali (Labour)
- Elaine Stewart (Labour)
- Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dem)
- Lorraine Beavers (Labour)
- Layla Moran (Lib Dem)
- Desmond Swayne (Conservative)
In response to the hunger strikes, the prison minister Lord Timpson has said: “We are very experienced at dealing with hunger strikes. Unfortunately, over the last five years we have averaged over 200 hunger strike incidents every year and the processes that we have are well-established and they work very well – with prisons working alongside our NHS partners every day, making sure our systems are robust and working – and they are.
“I am very clear. I don’t treat any prisoners differently to others. That is why we will not be meeting any prisoners or their representatives. We have a justice system that is based on the separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system.”
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
Image credit: Ben Dance / FCDO – Creative Commons
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