What should happen about the hunger strikers?

[noblegiraffe]

There are a group of people currently on remand in prison awaiting trial for criminal activities taken in support of the (currently) proscribed terrorist group Palestine Action. Some of them have gone on hunger strike and are suffering health impacts and some have been hospitalised.

Their demands appear to be:
to be released on bail
for Palestine Action to be de-proscribed as a terrorist group
for the UK to stop selling arms to Israel

I'm seeing various MPs writing earnest letters to David Lammy as Justice Secretary, saying that he must meet with them urgently to discuss their demands.

And then what?

It should go without saying that I really don't want people to die, and I'm sure that their families must be frantic, but what is actually expected to happen here? The proscription of Palestine Action is being appealed in the courts and I don't think people threatening to kill themselves should impact the democratic process.

Being released on bail? While I agree that it is shocking that they have been held in prison for 2 years while awaiting trial, because the justice system should work faster than that, they are active members of a currently proscribed terrorist organisation. At least one of the hunger strikers took part in the attack on Elbit where a female police officer had her back broken by one of the activists who attacked her with a sledgehammer while she lay on the ground. There's plenty of video footage of this, and I don't think the hunger strikers have condemned it. If they did get bail by threatening to kill themselves, surely everyone would then give it a go?

So what should happen?

Er, you what? I googled it.

Absolutely batshit.

Let them starve. Aren't they connected to tje charmer who broke a policewoman's back?

I too am an interested housewife and cannot get my head round what these idiots did to that poor policewoman. That goes beyond 'protest'

Absolutely nothing. Democratic governments cannot & must not capitulate to blackmail by convicted terrorists. Margaret Thatcher was strong enough not to cave in the the IRA hunger strikers who chose to die, and she was absolutely right not to. They made their choice and her heroism laid the groundwork for the IRA’s eventual defeat.

Wonder if he'll attack any women with sledgehammers on his jaunt.

Suicide isnt illegal. If they choose to starve themselves to death in order to make their point then that is their decision to make. They should be offered food, and it should be made clear that food will be made available to them at any point.

You are doing a very good job for your pay masters, effectively shouting down every person who has an opinion that contradicts yours; focusing on moral outrage, or simplifying a complex situation by presenting only two options: “Either you support us or you support atrocity Y.”
I’m wondering what you get out of coming here every weekend to host these different debates that all end up with you tenaciously dominating the conversation. You are good at this because you have had a lot of practice.
I’m new and a bit slower, but I’ll never get a reasoned discussion out of you and I wouldn’t dream of changing your mind so I’m going to leave you to your paid job or hobby.

What is complex about attacking a policewoman? I don't see this as a 'complex situation'. Why is this issue so different or special to the other 17,000 people on remand?

Are you sure this story is true? Are prisoners really allowed out to attend weddings??

There are various categories of 'Release on Temporary License' for short periods of leave [job interviews, medical treatment, serious family illness, childcare emergencies etc etc ] but all exclude un-sentenced and remand prisoners

Electronic Intifada isn't a great source

Telegraph are reporting it

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/08/palestine-action-activist-on-the-run-after-jumping-bail/#:~:text=Crown%20Prosecution%20Service-,40,in%20the%20past%20two%20weeks.

Accessible version. https://archive.ph/Q5t57

No, I know, Electronic Intifada is a cesspit and I'm totally unsurprised that they would have been able to contact him. But there are plenty of other news sources for him having absconded from prison.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/11/08/palestine-action-activist-on-the-run-after-jumping-bail/

Okay thanks - looks like I'm wrong

Looks like it's temporary bail rather than release on temporary license

Co-pilot search fails again!

To be clear.

Sean Middlebrough was grated temporary bail by a Crown Court judge.

He was not randomly released or released in error, nor did he escape whilst under escort.

He can expect a lengthy lengthy sentence for this. What a cock.

https://news.sky.com/story/manhunt-for-prisoner-who-absconded-after-being-freed-from-hmp-wandsworth-for-brothers-wedding-13467181

Yes, in some cases.

"You are doing a very good job for your pay masters"
I don't think you realise quite how unhinged that makes you sound.

OP isn't 'shouting people down, she's debating. Which is what rational people do when they don't agree with each other - put forward their reasons why they believe something and counter what is put forward by those who believe differently.

This just encapsulates what I think is so wrong with debate today - as in, some people refuse to debate, they just throw a fucking tantrum that anyone dares to think differently from them.

Play the ball not the man @Intsywintsyspider. Up your game and address the issues, don't just cast aspersions at those who can argue their case.

It’s complex because as I understand it, only one individual attacked the police officer but they are being tried as a group. I’ve been a peaceful protestor in my younger days and if anyone in the group had done this I would have been horrified.

In what way?

I’m very happy for the hunger strikers to die for their cause.

Only one person attacked the policewoman? I'm sure she will find great comfort in that. Presumably the other's tried to stop it?

Not only throw a tantrum if someone doesn’t agree with them, but refuse to eat when they face the consequences of their actions. It’s very much a left wing attribute, I can almost see the mistakes the parents made when raising them.

I’d always thought you were in education @noblegiraffe ! Didn’t realise you were sneaky peeeky!

This.

There is no other response.

No, there are different charges against different members of the group. Samuel Corner, the one who is on video bludgeoning the police officer, has been charged with that as an additional crime.

I've not seen any member of Palestine Action speak out against his actions, and indeed they have turned out to the initial court case in support of him and the others arrested at the scene, fundraising for his legal defence.

In the way nobody said anything about ‘the Irish’ let alone anything racist. It’s the most bizarre mumsnet reprimand I’ve seen, typical south of the ocean thinking.