Irish Artists for Palestine have issued a powerful statement in solidarity with the pro-Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Britain. It is signed by most of the great Irish musicians active today (Kneecap, Fontaines DC, Mary Wallopers, Christy Moore, The Pogues, Kevin Rowland, David Holmes), as well as writers and other cultural figures (including Sally Rooney, Annie Mac and Aisling Bea):
'We, Irish Artists for Palestine, write to express our solidarity with the political prisoners currently engaged in hunger strike within British prisons. Their decision to place their bodies on the line is a profound act of resistance — one that echoes the long histories of both Irish and Palestinian political prisoners who have used hunger strike as a non-violent act of sacrifice to assert their dignity in the face of state violence and repression. This collective protest is the largest hunger strike in British prisons since the 1981 hunger strikes, and it demands urgent public attention.
The prisoners — Qesser Zuhrah, Teuta Hoxha, Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed (the Filton 24), Amu Gib, Jon Cink, Umer Khalid and Lewie Chiaramello (Brize Norton 5) - have been incarcerated by the state without trial for allegedly protesting Israel's genocide in Gaza, in which the British government has been actively complicit. Some individuals have been imprisoned for over a year without trial and it will be up to two years before they are heard. This is a grotesque violation of the UK's standard pre-trial custody time limit of six months.
Prisoners have now entered their fifth week without food. Their bodies are deteriorating, with five hospitalisatjons so far and, the risks to their lives are escalating rapidly. Throughout this period. their basic rights have been heavily restricted and their demands have gone unanswered. Mainstream media outlets remain silent on the issue and there has been little to no coverage of this protest or of their demands.
The hunger strikers have five demands:
1. End to all prison censorship and withholding of all letters, phone calls and books
2. Immediate bail for an Palestine Action prisoners currently held in UK prisons
3. Right to a fair trial for all Palestine Action prisoners held in UK prisons
4. Deproscription of Palestine Action and the removal of its terror classification
5. Shutdown of all Elbit Systems sites and subsidiaries in the UK
We, the undersigned, call on the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Justice Secretary David Lammy. MPs and public representatives across Britain and Ireland to take immediate action, using all parliamentary and civic channels available to ensure these demands are addressed with urgency and transparency.
We demand that media organisations uphold their duty to the public by reporting the hunger strike, as well as the demands of the hunger strikers, to the public at this critical stage.
We believe this state repression is unfolding within a wider global crackdown and criminalisation of the Palestine solidarity movement. Increasingly, artists, activists and other dissenting voices are being censored, silenced, or smeared with baseless 'terror' allegations as a means of suppressing political expression. These systemic and structural efforts to marginalise dissent affect all of us — not only those targeted at the moment.
Our solidarity with the hunger strikers is rooted in our broader commitment to freedom and justice for the Palestinian people who have faced seventy eight years of occupation and over two years of genocide in Gaza. There are currently 3,368 Palestinian prisoners being held hostage in Israeli prisons under administrative detention, without a trial.
We stand with the hunger strikers, Palestinian hostages and with all those who continue to struggle for freedom and justice in Palestine.
In Solidarity,
Irish Artists for Palestine
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