We denounce the British state’s criminal neglect and repression that has driven six Filton24 political prisoners Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello to the brink of death. Their health is rapidly deteriorating as they continue a hunger strike of nearly two months, protesting their indefinite imprisonment without trial for opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and Britain’s direct complicity in it. All are imprisoned without trial for opposing genocide, and some have been detained for over a year while awaiting trial.
The hunger strike, now approaching two months, is the longest in the UK since the 1981 Irish hunger strike initiated by the poet Bobby Sands, who died after 66 days. The threat to the lives of these hunger strikers has been formally raised by more than 200 members of the British Medical Association, who have warned that the hunger strikers are dying. Yet, with no adequate medical intervention, the British state appears willing to let these activists die, just as it did with the Irish hunger strikers in 1981.
The Filton24, members of the Palestine Action group, are accused of carrying out actions to disrupt UK institutions and corporations that are criminally complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. These actions allegedly included targeting Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer and a central pillar of the machinery of mass murder in Gaza, at its Filton site near Bristol.
Instead of halting arms supplies to Israel and ending the UK’s complicity in the genocidal war against Gaza, the Keir Starmer led government has escalated repression by moving to proscribe Palestine Action. This anti-democratic attack exposes the true priorities of the British state - to do the bidding of Israel and the Zionist lobby and protect arms manufacturers and war criminals while jailing those who resist genocide. Those associated with Palestine Action now face prison sentences of up to 14 years.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation expresses its full solidarity with the demands of the hunger strikers. Immediate intervention must be undertaken to safeguard their lives. The UK government must immediately release all members of the Filton24 and end the criminalisation of Palestine solidarity actions.
-Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation (December 20, 2025)
