Liberated Palestinian Prisoners Express Support for Hunger-Striking Prisoners in British Jails
As the Prisoners for Palestine in British jails are amid the fourth week of their rolling hunger strike, which began on 2 November 2025, the anniversary of the infamous Balfour Declaration, liberated Palestinian prisoners express their solidarity and support for the hunger strikers. Qesser Zuhrah, Amu Gib, Heba Muraisi, Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, and Kamran Ahmed are all on hunger strike; they are part of the Filton 24 — British actionists who shut down a Zionist weapons manufacturing plant of the infamous Elbit Systems — and the RAF Brize Norton 3, who allegedly decommissioned two British military planes involved in flying surveillance flights and refueling flights to support the Israeli occupation military amid the genocide in Gaza.
In addition, Sean Middlebrough, one of the Filton 24, remains free after refusing to return to prison after a four-day parole to attend his brother’s wedding. He had been detained since November 2024, and told the Electronic Intifada: “I am not on the run. I am simply exercising common sense and refuse to be held as a ‘prisoner of war’ of ‘Israel’ in a British prison…It is outrageous, 23 of my co-defendants, heroic and honorable, remain in prison after our abduction by the anti-terror police.”
Palestinian prisoners freed from Zionist jails by the resistance in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange and living in exile expressed their support for the hunger strikers as they wage the “battle of empty stomachs” inside British prisons.
On behalf of the displaced Palestinian prisoners in exile, Abdel-Nasser Issa sent a message of support:
Honorable comrades struggling in the prisons of the United Kingdom,
Revolutionary greetings. Peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
From the reality of the struggle experience inside the prisons and cells of the Zionist occupation, where one of our most important tools was the struggle through hunger strike, or what we call in our literature the “Battle of Empty Stomachs”, we draw near today to your feelings, filled with challenge, positivity, and distinction, as you wage yet another just battle in the course of your struggle against the injustice and oppression whose price you are paying today in the prisons of the British government.
We too are scorched by the fire of its laws, which remain to this moment tools of repression in the hands of the occupation’s courts, just as our children are burned by the fire of its weapons through Britain’s support for the killing machine in Gaza—just as, in the past, it killed thousands of our grandparents and parents, including the hundreds executed by the British Mandate authorities as part of its fulfillment of the accursed Balfour Declaration, whose bitter anniversary coincides with the launch of your just battle.
As we witness your steadfastness and your sacrifices in support of justice and the struggle against oppression, we extend to you our greetings and our pride in you, wishing you victory in your just battle. May your voice and your actions remain high, effective, and accomplished in the ongoing battle of truth against the injustice of Zionism and those who created it.
With pride and honor in you,
The displaced Palestinian prisoners
On behalf of the Palestinian prisoners liberated in the several stages of the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange, Ammar al-Zaben also addressed his solidarity to the Prisoners for Palestine:
In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate,
To our heroic comrades and prisoners of freedom in the prisons of Britain — greetings of the revolution, the word, and the rifle.
In a time when the genocide against our people in Gaza is met with silence — for now — the echo of your uprising, still inflamed behind the prison bars, has reached us, along with your resolve to launch a hunger strike in defense of your free and principled choices in supporting our Palestinian people, who, thanks to you, have stood firm in the face of the monster of modern colonialism.
Know, O revolutionaries of the world, that you are not alone in this ordeal. Every Palestinian on the face of the earth raises their hat to you, proud that their back is supported by the wall of your steadfastness and revolutionary spirit. The price you are paying for supporting our cause and our people is powerful proof that you are our loyal partners in confronting colonialism and its criminal instrument — the Zionist occupation state.
We are approaching the moment of the end of the occupation, God willing soon, and may colonialism and all its tools fall everywhere.
Your brothers and comrades,
The freed prisoners of the “Flood of the Free” exchange
Abdel-Nasser Issa, born to a Palestinian refugee family in 1968, was imprisoned for 30 years in Zionist jails. He was shot by the occupation twice in 1982 and arrested repeatedly in 1985, 1986 and 1988 before his last arrest, when he was sentenced to two life sentences plus 20 years for his role in the armed resistance movement for Palestinian liberation. In 2005, he established the leadership body of Hamas prisoners inside the occupation prisons as well as a cultural and educational program for the prisoners. He published multiple books and papers from behind bars and obtained his master’s degree in 2014. Last month, he spoke virtually in Athens, Greece, after a concerted effort by Zionist forces to block him from speaking.
Ammar al-Zaben spent 27 years inside the occupation prisons prior to his release in the Toufan al-Ahrar exchange on 22 February 2025. Born in Nablus in 1975, he became the leader of the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades in his area. with one of the mandates being capturing occupation soldiers in order to exchange them to liberate Palestinian prisoners. He was involved in leading several armed resistance operations in occupied Jerusalem, and when he was captured by the occupation forces in 1998, he was sentenced to 27 life sentences plus 25 years. He is married with two sons and two daughters; he is considered the first Palestinian prisoner to use “liberated sperm” smuggled from the prison to a fertility clinic to have children, “ambassadors of freedom,” with his wife — his sons Muhannad, in 2012, and Seif al-Din, in 2014.
The Prisoners for Palestine are on strike to achieve five demands:
- An end to the censorship of letters and books, and freedom of expression.
- Immediate bail.
- The right to a fair trial.
- The deproscription of Palestine Action.
- The closure of all Elbit weapons factories in Britain.
There is an international day of action to support the prisoners and to demand the deproscription of Palestine Action on Tuesday, 25 November. The date marks the next hearing in the legal case confronting the proscription of Palestine Action, rendering it illegal in Britain. In London, supporters will gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice from 10 am to 4 pm on Tuesday to raise their voices for the prisoners and for the deproscription. Hundreds of people have been arrested across Britain as they hold signs declaring, “I support Palestine Action. I oppose genocide” — a simple act that defies the British “Terrorism Act.” In addition, there is a Break the Chains bloc being organized for the British National March for Palestine in support of the Prisoners for Palestine and the Palestinian prisoners’ movement in Zionist jails. The bloc will gather on Saturday, 29 November at 11:30 am outside the Hilton on Park Lane to march together.
Some prominent individuals have expressed their solidarity with the hunger strikers, including MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, 30 Irish councillors, freed Irish prisoner Bernadette McAliskey, and novelist Sally Rooney. In France, activists created a mural expressing solidarity with the Filton 24 and the hunger strikers on 19 November, as the start of the trial of the first group of the 24 (Zoe Rogers, Fatema Zainab (Ray) Rajwani, Jordan Devlin, Samuel Corner and Charlotte Head) began; they are accused of causing millions of pounds of damage to Elbit Systems.
Among the many banner drops around the world, Samidoun and the Anti-Imperialist Front posted large banners in Athens in support of the hunger strikers:
The Prisoners for Palestine movement is calling for actions and support around the world. The hunger strikers are not yet receiving the attention and support they need from the global movement in solidarity with Palestine, and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all to join in the actions on 25 November, the international call to action, and to highlight all of the prisoners — from British to US to German to French to Zionist jails — on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, 29 November.
Below are some further suggested actions:
Protest at a British embassy or consulate near you
Organize a rally, protest, picket or other action at a British embassy or consulate in your area. Use the demands of the Prisoners for Palestine and demand an end to British imperialist complicity and involvement in genocide, including the persecution of Palestine Action and the Prisoners for Palestine!
Sign a letter
Sign the online letter to call for the implementation of the prisoners’ demands.
Write to our prisoners
Write letters to the prisoners, to break through the censorship and lift their spirits. Just write their prison number alongside their name, and please don’t write about anybody’s alleged action in your letters for legal reasons.
Check out our guide on writing to prisoners.
Contact the prisons
Contact the prison and tell them your concerns about the person that is on hunger strike. Contact details here.
Spread the word
- Spread the word! Tell everyone you know about our prisoners and how they continue to resist in prison.
- Share our social media posts (insta, x, youtube).
- Read and share the prisoners’ writings from inside:
- Educate yourself and your friends – organise film nights or a reading group. If you have book or film recommendations send them to us!
Organise
- Make your own Prisoners for Palestine placard and take it to your next protest.
- Pressure your local MP to advocate for the prisoners.
- Organise demos outside the prisons where actionists are held.
- Do a banner drop.
(Samidoun)
