Study Reveals Effects of Prolonged Fasting on Human Physiology

Three British activists from the Palestine Action group are on hunger strike, refusing food for extended periods. Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed have fasted for 70 and 63 days respectively, while Lewie Chiaramello is also refusing food on alternating days due to type 1 diabetes. The three individuals are among eight who participated in a protest in November, which involved break-ins at the UK subsidiary of Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol and a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire.

The group’s demands include that all eight will have spent more than a year in custody without trials, exceeding the UK’s usual six-month pre-trial detention limit. The activists deny all charges related to the incidents.

According to medical estimates, a healthy adult can survive without food for between 45 and 61 days. However, the three activists have now reached or exceeded this threshold, placing them at risk of extreme health complications.

Historical records show that hunger strikes have been used as an extreme form of protest, relying on moral pressure to compel those in power to act. The practice has been employed by Palestinian prisoners incarcerated without charges by Israel, and is often seen as a measure of last resort when individuals believe their rights to protest and effective remedy have been exhausted.

The UK government’s response to the hunger strike has been criticized, with Amnesty International UK director Kerry Moscogiuri calling the situation “alarming” and stating that it reflects a “gross misuse of counterterrorism powers”.

Source: Al Jazeera