Two hunger strikers detained in separate UK prisons, Amu Gib and Kamran Ahmed, have been admitted to hospital after more than 50 and 44 days without food respectively, amid growing concern from legal representatives and campaigning groups about the risk to their lives and the government’s response to requests for engagement.
Amu Gib, aged 30 and held at HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, was transferred to hospital after reaching day 52 of a hunger strike, and Kamran Ahmed, a 28-year-old detainee held at HMP Pentonville in London, was hospitalised on day 44 as hunger strike action by a group of political detainees continued; supporters and lawyers say several of the group have been on strike since early November and that many have already required hospital treatment because of their prolonged refusal of food, according to reporting by multiple outlets.
Hospital admissions and current condition of the hunger strikers
Amu Gib was moved from HMP Bronzefield to hospital after campaigners reported she had needed a wheelchair prior to transfer and had reached the 50-day mark of an ongoing hunger strike, as reported by the World Socialist Web Site and other outlets covering the protests and hospitalisations.
As reported by Michael Welsh for World Socialist Web Site, Gib had been provided with a wheelchair the day before her transfer, and by the time of reporting she was on day 52 of refusing food and fluids, a length of time lawyers and campaigners warn places her at imminent risk of irreversible harm or death.
Scale of the hunger strike and who is involved
The hunger strike began in early November and has involved at least eight detainees, identified in legal statements and campaign group releases as including Qesser Zuhrah (also spelled Qesser Zuhrar), Heba Muraisi (also referenced as Heba Mueasi), Teuta Hoxha, Lewie Chiaramello and others, with varying durations of strike action and multiple hospital admissions among the group, according to reporting and statements from campaign lawyers and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers.
Timing, remand status and legal context
Reporting by the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers states several of the strikers have been held on remand for many months and in some cases face trials scheduled well into 2026 or 2027; legal representatives warn that the detainees will have been held far beyond normal custody time limits by the time their cases are heard, and that bail applications have been refused.
According to the Haldane Society, as of 18 December 2025 Qesser Zuhrah and Amu Gib were on day 47 of the strike while Heba Mueasi was on day 46, and the group’s lawyers had written to the Justice Secretary requesting urgent engagement because of the risk to their clients’ lives; the lawyers reported receiving no substantive response from the government by that date.
Medical risks and historical comparisons cited by advocates
Campaigners and legal representatives cited medical evidence and historical examples to underline the danger posed by prolonged refusal of food; they referenced that death from starvation in hunger strikes can occur within weeks to months depending on circumstances and that in some well-known historical cases death occurred in fewer than 50 days, stressing the immediacy of the risk for those now hospitalised.
According to reporting by People’s Dispatch, medical commentary cited in coverage indicated the shortest reported time from the start of a hunger strike to death could be as little as 21 days in extreme circumstances, while carefully managed patients have survived up to around 70 days without food when fluids and medical support are provided — figures used by advocates to press for urgent official engagement to prevent fatalities among the detainees.
Reactions from legal representatives, campaign groups and political figures
The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers issued public statements calling for immediate meetings with the Justice Secretary and for the government to intervene to safeguard the strikers’ lives, with lawyers warning that failure to act could result in deaths and social unrest.
According to People’s Dispatch and other outlets reporting on the case, legal teams and supporters have accused the government of ignoring letters and calls for action from MPs and legal representatives; reporting states that interventions by several MPs had been made without eliciting a meaningful response from ministers as of mid-December.
As reported by Tim Libby for People’s Dispatch, the campaigners frame the hunger strikes as a protest against the use of counterterror legislation and alleged “weaponisation” of proscription and detention to suppress protest, a claim reflected in statements published by the Haldane Society and by groups supporting the strikers.
Implications for prisons, public health and legal process
Medicalisation of detainees — that is, transferring hunger strikers to hospital — has occurred repeatedly during this protest action, with coverage indicating that seven of the eight original hunger strikers had been taken to hospital at some point since the strike began and several admitted multiple times, which raises operational and ethical questions for prison healthcare and custodial management according to reporting by the World Socialist Web Site and associated legal statements.
Reporting cites legal concerns about extended remand durations and the scheduling of trials far in the future; campaigners argue these factors heighten the urgency of resolving the situation to prevent avoidable loss of life, while the government’s publicly available response to those representations was reported as limited or absent in the coverage available at the time of reporting.
Reporting by Natasha Delaney for Palestine Chronicle notes that the hospitalisations coincided with public demonstrations and calls for authorities to provide medical care and to meet representatives of the detainees, reflecting a pattern of public campaigning accompanying the legal interventions.
Clear, factual conclusion summarising reported developments: Multiple detainees engaged in an extended hunger strike — notably Amu Gib and Kamran Ahmed — have required hospital treatment after prolonged refusal of food, campaigners and lawyers have repeatedly requested urgent government engagement citing imminent risk of death, and media reporting indicates the government had not publicly confirmed substantive engagement with those requests at the time of the latest coverage, while the legal processes keeping the detainees on remand remain ongoing and are scheduled to continue into future years.
