Palestine Hunger Striker's Sister Confronts David Lammy

Justice secretary David Lammy claimed ignorance about the Palestine Action hunger strike in UK prisons when confronted by activists and an inmate’s family member on Friday evening. “I don’t know anything about this,” he said when Shahmina Alam, the sister of one of the hunger strikers, showed him a printout of a letter he had been sent urging him to intervene. Alam’s brother Kamran Ahmed – one of seven people refusing food – was hospitalised on 25 November after joining the strike on 10 November. She has said she fears for his life. The hunger strikers are calling for immediate bail, the closure of an Israeli weapons firm in the UK, and the end of the ban on Palestine Action. Lammy’s claim that he was unaware of the strike will be unconvincing to many, especially as it comes after Labour backbencher John McDonnell tabled an Early Day Motion urging the justice secretary to ensure the inmates’ “human rights are upheld”. On Friday, US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib said on X that she was “deeply concerned for the health and safety of the brave anti-genocide political prisoners on hunger strike across the UK.” She added: “I call on the UK government to act to ensure their wellbeing and to meet their basic, moral demands.”