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United Nations experts have called on Britain to protect the lives and rights of detained pro-Palestine activists who are on hunger strike.
In a written statement issued on Sunday, the UN experts said that eight pro-Palestine activists imprisoned in Britain have been on an open-ended hunger strike since 2 November.
They expressed deep concern about the detainees’ lives and their fundamental rights.
“We call on Britain to protect the lives and rights of detained pro-Palestine hunger strikers,” the statement said.
The experts noted that “Hunger strike is often a measure of last resort by people who believe that their rights to protest and effective remedy have been exhausted.”
The statement warned that the health of the hunger strikers has deteriorated significantly as they enter their second month without food. It stated that they face “critical risk of serious complications, including organ failure, irreversible neurological damage, cardiac arrhythmias and death.”
The UN experts urged British authorities to “ensure timely access to emergency and hospital care when clinically indicated, refrain from actions that may amount to pressure or retaliation, and respect medical ethics.”
OPINION: From Guantanamo to UK prisons: In solidarity with the hunger strikers
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
