65 DAYS WITHOUT FOOD and a woman on remand says she is “dying in this cell”. the hunger strike at hmp new hall is now being compared to the darkest chapters of british prison history, raising urgent questions about justice, delay and duty of care.

Hunger striker says ‘I’m dying in this cell’ after 65 days without food in prison

Heba Muraisi said she is struggling to breathe and has difficulty concentrating as she approaches 66 days on hunger strike while on remand in prison (Picture: Prisoners for Palestine)
A hunger striker on remand over her alleged role in a Palestine Action raid has said she is ‘deteriorating’ and struggling to breathe.

Heba Muraisi is on day 65 without food after becoming the first member of an initial group of eight prisoners to begin the action.

Struggling to record audio over the course of several days, she said she is ‘terrified’ but kept going by ‘love and solidarity’ as her condition worsens at HMP New Hall in Flockton, West Yorkshire.

The hunger strike is believed to be the largest of its type in the British Isles since 1981, when 10 Irish prisoners died.

They included IRA leader Bobby Sands, who went 66 days without food.

The 31-year-old spent almost a week recording the answers to questions from Metro as she is having difficulty concentrating.

‘As each day passes I get weaker, aches worsen, headaches are frequent and concentrating is extremely difficult,’ she said.

‘My body shakes, I get dizzy to the point of nausea and now breathing is getting hard. I am deteriorating in this cell, I am dying.’

Supporters of the Palestine Action hunger strikers hold pictures showing three of the group including Heba Muraisi (Picture: Guy Smallman/Getty Images)

‘Denied communication’

The protester, from Barnet, north London, is awaiting trial over her alleged role in the break-in at a research and development facility owned by Elbit Systems, a UK subsidiary of an Israeli defence firm, in Filton near Bristol.

The lifeguard and florist was arrested in a dawn raid on November 19 last year, according to support group Prisoners for Palestine.

Her trial is not scheduled to take place until June, by which time she will have spent close to two years in prison on remand.

Muraisi said: ‘Prison is prison, it’s the same oppressive system under the false pretence that it is rehabilitation.

‘Here I’ve been heavily restricted and monitored, visitors not being approved, phone numbers being rejected including doctors, emails getting blocked, my legal team has been ignored.

‘On day 45 of my hunger strike I was threatened to be forcefully moved by a custodial manager in the presence of a senior officer.

‘I was moved away from my support system I had built, and the only friend I had made on this new wing was recently just moved.’

Heba Muraisi is on hunger strike at HMP New Hall in West Yorkshire as she awaits trial over her alleged role in a Palestine Action raid (Picture: Prisoners for Palestine)

What can happen during a hunger strike?

Ian Miller, a historian of hunger strikes in British prisons, told Metro that a hunger strike can typically play out physiologically as follows:

Days One to Seven: decreasing heart rate, physical wasting, weight loss (as bodies eat up their fat reserves in the adipose tissue.

Days Eight to Fourteen: Bodies begin using glycogen stores (energy located in the liver and muscles). Ammonia produced giving a distinctive smell. Weight loss slows down. Loss of heart mass causing a slow heart beat.

Days Fifteen Onwards: Tendencies to collapse and become bedbound. Nightmares very common early on. Physical and psychological health worsens significantly. Very disturbed sleep. ‘Raving all night’, as one hunger strike termed it in the 1920s.

Around twenty to sixty/seventy days: Patients essentially in a state of complete exhaustion, but often still conscious until around 50 days.

Over 70 days: With zero medical intervention or food, this seems to be roughly the limit of survival. In 1920, hunger striker Terence MacSwiney lasted 74 days before he died.

Mum’s prayers

Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello are also taking part in the hunger strike, while Amu Gib, Jon Cink, Umer Khalid and Qesser Zuhrah have ‘paused’ their participation.

All eight are on remand, charged with offences relating to break-ins and criminal damage either at Elbit in August 2024 or another raid at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in June last year.

The protesters’ demands include ‘end all censorship’ of communication and correspondence in jail, immediate bail, ‘right to a fair trial’, de-proscribing Palestine Action and shutting Elbit down.

Muraisi, who has family in Rafah on the Gaza Strip, has previously stated that she ‘will not compromise until all demands are met’ and will ‘continue to fight and resist’ in prison.

Heba Muraisi looks outside her prison cell at HMP New Hall as she continues her hunger strike while on remand (Picture: Prisoners for Palestine)
She said: ‘It’s the love and solidarity from the people and my mum’s duas (personal prayer) that give me strength.

‘And it’s the rage from the injustice my comrades and I are facing that keeps me going. I’m well aware that things could turn at any minute, I’m terrified, I’d be stupid not to be.

‘As of today, I’ve been held on remand for 409 days while awaiting trial.

‘To make things worse I’ve been moved nearly 188 miles up north away from my family and support system.’

Muraisi has daily calls with her mum but said: ‘When New Hall cut off my phone line for ridiculous security reasons it just causes unnecessary distress for her.’ Asked if her family supported her hunger strike, she replied: ‘I can’t say that my family support my current actions, but they understand why I’m doing it.’

From top left: Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Jon Cink, Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed, Lewie Chiaramello and Muhammed Umer Khalid (Picture: Prisoners for Palestine)

‘Serious offences’

A spokesperson for Practice Plus Group, which manages healthcare on behalf of the NHS at New Hall, said: ‘We provide compassionate, evidence-based care in prisons and manage any patients who are refusing food in accordance with all the relevant policies and protocols, and in partnership with prison teams and the wider NHS.’

The government maintains that it has no records from NHS staff that prison officers have obstructed healthcare.

Lord Timpson, minister of state for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, said: ‘While very concerning, hunger strikes are not a new issue for our prisons.

‘Over the last five years, we’ve averaged over 200 a year and we have longstanding procedures in place to ensure prisoner safety.

‘Prison healthcare teams provide NHS care and continuously monitor the situation. HMPPS are clear that claims that hospital care is being refused are entirely misleading – they will always be taken when needed and a number of these prisoners have already been treated in hospital.

‘These prisoners are charged with serious offences including aggravated burglary and criminal damage.

‘Remand decisions are for independent judges, and lawyers can make representations to the court on behalf of their clients.

‘Ministers will not meet with them – we have a justice system that is based on the separation of powers, and the independent judiciary is the cornerstone of our system.

‘It would be entirely unconstitutional and inappropriate for ministers to intervene in ongoing legal cases.’