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Palestine Action: Prison hunger strikes that shaped history

Palestine Action: Prison hunger strikes that shaped history

Four members of the advocacy group Palestine Action have pledged this week to continue their hunger strike amid grave medical warnings and the hospitalisations of their fellow protesters. The group’s members are being held in five prisons in the United Kingdom over alleged involvement in break-ins at a facility of the UK’s subsidiary of the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire. They are protesting for better conditions in prison, rights to a fair trial, and for the UK to change a July policy listing the movement as a “terror” group. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Palestine Action denies charges of “violent disorder” and others against the eight detainees. Relatives and loved ones told Al Jazeera of the members’ deteriorating health amid the hunger strikes, which have led to repeated hospital admissions. Lawyers representing the detainees have revealed plans to sue the government. The case has brought international attention to the UK’s treatment of groups standing in solidarity with Palestinians amid Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. Thousands of people have rallied in support of Palestine Action every week. Hunger strikes have been used throughout history as an extreme, non-violent way of seeking justice. Their effectiveness often lies in the moral weight they place upon those in power. Historical records trace hunger strikes back to ancient India and Ireland, where people would fast at the doorstep of an offender to publicly shame them. However, they have also proved powerful as political statements in the present day. Advertisement Here are some of the most famous hunger strikes in recent world history: A pigeon flies past a mural supporting the Irish Republican Army in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, September 9, 2015 [Cathal McNaughton/Reuters] Irish Republican Movement hunger strikes Some of the most significant hunger strikes in the 20th century occurred during the Irish revolutionary period, or the Troubles. The first wave was the 1920 Cork hunger strike, during the Irish War of Independence. Some 65 people suspected of being Republicans had been held without proper trial proceedings at the Cork County Gaol. They began a hunger strike, demanding their release and asking to be treated as political prisoners rather than criminals. They were joined by Terence MacSwiney, the lord mayor of Cork, whose profile brought significant international attention to the independence cause. The British government attempted to break up the movement by transferring the prisoners to other locations, but their fasts continued. At least three prisoners died, including MacSwiney, after 74 days. Later on, towards the end of the conflict and the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, imprisoned Irish Republicans protested against their internment and the withdrawal of political prisoner status that stripped them of certain rights: the right to wear civilian clothes, or to not be forced into labour. They began the “dirty protest” in 1980, refusing to have a bath and covering walls in excrement. In 1981, scores of people refused to eat. The most prominent among them was Bobby Sands, an IRA member who was elected as a representative to the British Parliament while he was still in jail. Sands eventually starved to death, along with nine others, during that period, leading to widespread criticism of the Margaret Thatcher administration. India’s Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was later popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, used hunger strikes as a tool of protest against the British colonial rulers several times. His fasts, referred to as Satyagraha, meaning holding on to truth in Hindi, were considered by the politician and activist not only as a political act but also a spiritual one. Gandhi’s strikes sometimes lasted for days or weeks, during which he largely sipped water, sometimes with some lime juice. They achieved mixed results – sometimes, the British policy changed, but at other times, there were no improvements. Gandhi, however, philosophised in his many writings that the act was not a coercive one for him, but rather an attempt at personal atonement and to educate the public. Advertisement One of Gandhi’s most significant hunger strikes was in February 1943, after British authorities placed him under house arrest in Pune for starting the Quit India Movement back in August 1942. Gandhi protested against the mass arrests of Congress leaders and demanded the release of prisoners by refusing food for 21 days. It intensified public support for independence and prompted unrest around the country, as workers stayed away from work and people poured out into the streets in protest. Another popular figure who used hunger strikes to protest against British rule in colonial India was Jatindra Nath Das, better known as Jatin Das. A member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association, Das refused food while in detention for 63 days starting from August 1929, in protest against the poor treatment of political prisoners. He died at the age of 24, and his funeral attracted more than 500,000 mourners. Palestinian kids wave their national flag and hold posters showing Khader Adnan following his death on May 2, 2023 [Majdi Mohammed/AP Photo] Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons Palestinians held, often without trial, in Israeli jails have long used hunger strikes as a form of protest. One of the most well-known figures is Khader Adnan, whose shocking death in May 2023 after an 86-day hunger strike drew global attention to the appalling treatment of Palestinians by the Israeli government. Adnan, who was 45 when he starved to death at the Ayalon Prison, leaving behind nine children, had repeatedly been targeted by Israeli authorities since the early 2000s. The baker from the occupied West Bank had once been part of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group as a spokesperson, although his wife later stated publicly that he had left the group and that he had never been involved in armed operations. However, Adnan was arrested and held without trial multiple times, with some estimates stating that he spent a cumulative eight years in Israeli prisons. Adnan would often go on hunger strike during those detentions,

Five people killed in firefight on Tajik-Afghan border, Tajikistan says

Five people killed in firefight on Tajik-Afghan border, Tajikistan says

The incident is the third of its kind in recent weeks in which Tajik border guards and civilians have been killed. By News Agencies Published On 25 Dec 202525 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Five people have been killed in a firefight between border guards and intruders on Tajikistan‘s border with Afghanistan, the Tajik border protection agency says. Heavily armed raiders from Afghanistan crossed into Tajikistan at the village of Kavo in the Shamsiddin Shokhin district on Tuesday and were located on Wednesday, according to a statement by the border agency published by Tajik news agency Khovar. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The border agency said the men attacked a guard post, killing two border guards, and three of the intruders died in the ensuing gun battle. The agency said the incident was the third of its kind in recent weeks in which Tajik border guards and civilians were killed. The border guards secured the weapons and ammunition used by the intruders, including grenades, three M-16 rifles, a Kalashnikov assault rifle, three foreign-made pistols with silencers, 10 hand grenades, a night-vision scope, explosives and other ammunition at the scene, the agency said. “The terrorists refused to obey orders from Tajik border guards to surrender and offered armed resistance. They intended to carry out an armed attack on one of the border posts of the Border Troops of the State Committee for National Security of the Republic of Tajikistan,” the statement said. Chinese citizens working for a mining company in the region have also been among those killed. The latest incident demonstrated “the Taliban government’s failure to fulfil their international obligations and repeated commitments to ensuring security and stability along the state border with the Republic of Tajikistan and to combating members of terrorist organisations, reflecting serious and recurring irresponsibility”, the statement added. Advertisement It agency said that it expected an apology from the Afghan leadership. Tajikistan will defend its territorial integrity against “terrorists and smugglers” by all means, it added. Afghanistan has not yet commented on the incident. Drugs from Afghanistan are smuggled into Central Asia across the largely unsecured 1,340km (830-mile) border. Russian forces are stationed in Tajikistan and have in the past participated in joint exercises with Tajik forces to help secure the border. Adblock test (Why?)

Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri dies at 72

Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri dies at 72

Celebrated director of ‘Jenin, Jenin’ documentary leaves behind legacy of artistic resistance. Published On 25 Dec 202525 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Acclaimed Palestinian actor and filmmaker Mohammad Bakri has died in northern Israel, ending a five-decade career that established him as one of the most influential voices in Palestinian cinema. Bakri died on Wednesday at Galilee Medical Centre in Nahariya after suffering from heart and lung problems, hospital officials said. Recommended Stories list of 2 itemsend of list His passing removes a towering figure whose work directly challenged Israeli narratives and whose decades-long legal battles over censorship became a defining chapter in Palestinian cultural resistance. The 72-year-old was best known for his 2002 documentary, Jenin, Jenin, which captured testimonies from Palestinian residents following a devastating Israeli military operation in the refugee camp that killed 52 Palestinians. The film ignited years of controversy in Israel but elevated Bakri’s status as a creative and would overshadow the remainder of his life. Israeli authorities banned the documentary from screening in 2021, with the Supreme Court upholding the prohibition in 2022, deeming it defamatory. “I intend to appeal the verdict because it is unfair, it is neutering my truth,” Bakri told the Walla News website at the time. Five soldiers sued Bakri, and courts eventually fined him hundreds of thousands of shekels while ordering all copies seized and online links removed. In an interview with the British Film Institute earlier this year, Bakri said, “I don’t see Israel as my enemy … but they consider me their enemy. They see me as a traitor … for making a movie.” Advertisement Born in 1953 in the Galilee village of Bi’ina, Bakri was a Palestinian citizen of Israel who studied Arabic literature and theatre at Tel Aviv University. He made his striking film debut at age 30 in Costa-Gavras’s Hanna K, playing a Palestinian refugee attempting to reclaim his family’s home. His role as a Palestinian prisoner in the 1984 Israeli film Beyond the Walls earned international acclaim and an Academy Award nomination for the production. But it was Bakri’s commitment to telling Palestinian stories that defined his career. He appeared in more than 40 films and directed several documentaries examining the experiences of Palestinians living under occupation and within Israel. His solo theatrical performance of The Pessoptimist, based on Emile Habibi’s novel about Palestinian identity, was performed more than 1,500 times worldwide and cemented his status as a cultural icon. Bakri is survived by his wife Leila and six children, including actors Saleh, Ziad and Adam, who have followed him into cinema. His funeral was held the same day in Bi’ina. Adblock test (Why?)