Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed
Areeb Ullah – Middle East Eye Jan 8, 2026
Medical experts warn that activists linked to Palestine Action who have been on hunger strike for more than 60 days are now entering a phase where damage may be permanent and the risk of death and irreversible harm increase sharply.
Two of the remaining hunger strikers, Heba Muraisi, who has passed day 66 without food, and Kamran Ahmed, who is on day 60, are described by family members as being in extreme physical decline.
Earlier this week, Muraisi told journalists she is “dying in her cell”, while Ahmed’s family said he is facing irreversible damage as his muscles and organs weaken under prolonged starvation.
In a statement shared by relatives and legal representatives, Ahmed was described as being “close to death”, as his physical condition continues to deteriorate.
Lawyers representing the two hunger strikers have also written to UK Justice Secretary David Lammy this week, for the fourth time, urging him to meet them to discuss a possible resolution.
In the letter, the lawyers raised concerns about Muraisi’s health and noted that Ahmed’s deterioration – including intermittent hearing loss, a low pulse, and breathlessness – is preventing them from taking instructions from him over the phone.
The hunger strike began in protest against their continued detention on remand and prison conditions, according to supporters.
Dr James Smith, an emergency medicine doctor and lecturer at University College London, is one of several doctors supporting the families of the hunger strikers.
He explained to Middle East Eye the profound physiological toll a hunger strike of this length can take.
“While 60-plus days represents a morbid milestone of sorts, the risks the hunger strikers are facing now are risks they have been facing for several weeks,” Smith told MEE.
“The risk grows with every day; but the processes taking place inside the body have already been under way since week three or four.”
As the body exhausts its initial energy reserves, it switches from using stored fat to breaking down muscle tissue for energy.
“That breakdown of muscle causes the visible wasting we associate with severe malnutrition,” Smith said.
Over time, this catabolism affects not just skeletal muscle but also the heart and breathing muscles, weakening core bodily functions essential for survival.
When the body runs out of fuel
Once those fat reserves are depleted, the body begins breaking down muscle tissue – including muscles essential for the heart, breathing and movement.
“Muscle mass and fat are lost across the entire body, simply to survive a little while longer,” Smith said.
This process affects every system. Weakness intensifies, breathing becomes harder, and the heart becomes increasingly fragile.
Electrolytes, the heart and the brain
Beyond weight loss, Smith warned of severe deficiencies in micronutrients and electrolytes – minerals, such as potassium and magnesium, that regulate the heart and nervous system.
“People are not receiving the essential vitamins and minerals you would normally get from a healthy diet,” he explained.
“Deficiencies in key vitamins and electrolytes pose a risk of irreversible neurological harm and heart arrhythmias, among a host of other problems.”
While hunger strikers often receive supplements such as thiamine and multivitamins, Smith cautioned that these alone may not be enough.
“When people are profoundly deficient, oral supplements are rarely sufficient,” he said. “The body, slowly and relentlessly, is breaking itself down.”
Why 60 days matters
Historically, hunger strikers have died anywhere between 45 and 75 days, though survival varies with hydration, medical supervision and the individual’s health.
Smith’s concern is not only the risk of death, but the risk that damage can no longer be reversed.
“At this stage, organ systems can tip from coping to failure very quickly,” he said. “Someone can appear relatively stable, then decline precipitously – and by the time that happens, it is often too late.”
Heart failure, kidney injury and neurological damage become increasingly likely as the body consumes itself to survive.
Damage that can last a lifetime
Even if a hunger striker resumes eating, Smith warned, the consequences may continue.
“There is a very high risk of irreversible harm,” he said. “The question is not simply whether someone survives, but what function they are left with afterwards.”
Long-term complications may emerge months or years later, including weakness, chronic organ disease and cognitive problems.
Based on historical hunger strikes, Smith believes the hunger strikers are already in the most fragile period.
“These activists are now in that critical phase where something catastrophically bad – or irreversible – could happen at any moment,” he said.
Three Palestine Action protesters end their hunger strike thank god
Story by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent •
Three Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners have announced the end of their hunger strike after the government decided not to award a £2bn contract to the Israeli arms company subsidiary Elbit Systems UK – with another four who had paused their protest choosing not to continue
Fears had been growing for the welfare of those taking part. On Wednesday, Heba Muraisi, 31, would have been on day 73 of refusing food, t raising fears about the risk to life of the prisoners in jail awaiting trial for offences relating to protests claimed by Palestine Action.Fears had been growing for the welfare of those taking part. On Wednesday, Heba Muraisi, 31, would have been on day 73 of refusing food,
Among their demands had been to shut down Elbit Systems, a slogan used by Palestine Action in its campaign against the weapons company’s UK sites.
Late on Wednesday, Prisoners for Palestine said the decision not to grant Elbit Systems UK the contract, under which it would have trained 60,000 British troops a year, fulfilled a key demand. It said the company had won more than 10 public contracts since 2012, and so the decision by the Ministry of Defence marked a shift in thinking among officials.
Prisoners for Palestine also pointed to a meeting that took place on Friday between national leaders of prison healthcare and representatives of the hunger striking prisoners, at the behest of the Ministry of Justice, which it said involved discussion of prison conditions and treatment recommendations.
Kamran Ahmed, 28, who would have been on day 66 on Wednesday, and Lewie Chiaramello, 22, who has type 1 diabetes and has been fasting every other day and would have been on day 46, have also stopped refusing food.
Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Qesser Zuhrah, and Amu Gib, who had paused their strikes, are also ending their action.
Prisoners for Palestine said they have now all begun refeeding in accordance with health guidelines, which is itself a dangerous process that risks death if not done properly.
The Guardian understands that Umar Khalid, 22, who resumed his hunger strike on Saturday after previously pausing it, is continuing to refuse food.
Prisoners for Palestine said there had been a number of victories: “In the past few weeks alone, 500 people have signed up to take direct action against the genocidal military-industrial complex, more than the amount of people who took action with Palestine Action over its five-year campaign. During that five-year campaign, four Israeli weapons factories were shut down. Elbit Systems is living on stolen time – we will see it shut down for good, not because of the government, but because of the people.”
It also said that Muraisi’s transfer back to HMP Bronzefield in Surrey had been accepted by HMP New Hall in Wakefield, to which she was moved last year, hundreds of miles from her family and friends. Her transfer had been another demand of the hunger strikers.
Prisoners for Palestine said Hoxha had been offered a meeting with the head of the joint extremism unit at her prison, which it said “orchestrates the prisoners’ treatment as ‘terrorists’”.
Another demand had been an end to the censorship of prisoners’ communications. The group said: “During the hunger strike, some of the prisoners started receiving bulk packages of withheld mail, and in one case received an apology from prison staff for a letter that was delayed by six months. Books on the topics of Gaza and feminism have also been given after months of waiting. Hate mail from jews was also passed over
“Our prisoners’ hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance, an embarrassment for the British state. It exposed to the world Britain has political prisoners in service of a foreign genocidal regime, and has seen hundreds of people commit to take direct action in the prisoners’ footsteps.”
Gib said: “We have never trusted the government with our lives, and we will not start now. We will be the ones to decide how we give our lives to justice and liberation.”
Britain should not be taking part in israeli genocides
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> Doctors warn that the hunger strikers risk causing irreparable harm to their health and even death.
Ladies and poofters, I give you the nhs. “Doctors warn that not eating will kill you.” Let me guess, “dr” woggy?
The jew motherload that is the jew-k has a long history of torture and abuse. They like it. Ever been to “madame tussauds”? Whichever way you go in there you’ll need a sick bag.
And lo, our “heroes” musk ad dump are silent! Who’d have thought it. Although why you care about your wog invaders is beyond me. You let them in, the “vandalise” some “jets” by painting over the gay signs on the side, then you complain that they’re starving themselves to death. Remember the IRA? You murdered them too. That time in retaliation for your government blowing up this and that 9-11 style.
after that long they cant survive
starmer has killed them
What would I tell these people? If you starve and destroy your bodies, then you cannot find a way to help them. Eat and be strong, keep your faith in God and find another more constructive way to find a solution. The power that controls the world could care less if you suffer and die. You are of no more importance to them than the people in Palestine. Just another useless eater. Wise up.
Mr. Crowley is the ‘Coming Man’ foretold by Hitler
A.A.
If anybody still doubted the Jews own British politics the calls for a police commander to resign after banning Jewish football thugs proves it. I remember not too many years ago when they tried to deal with football hooliganism by banning spectators from attending and the matches were played to an empty stadium. But ban violent Jews and even top cops aren’t safe. That’s a warning to us all.
“The power that controls the world could care less if you suffer and die. You are of no more importance to them than the people in Palestine. Just another useless eater”. A comment that says it all. So does this picture!
https://images.bild.de/69678a9be954401861ee0364/e295a0979b51ed3d7a7237a2ea1e0e3a,3408dc3e?w=992
The hollowco$t survivors: Eva Szepesi 93, Eva Umlauf 83, Ernst Grube 93, Leon Weintraub 100 clubbing up again because some Jerman made Hitler movie is running on Jerman TV around midnight – far too late they say, as the movie should be compulsory to all Jerman citizens on strings in Jermany. What a disgrace THEY screech! The Nazis are at Germany’s throat again!
While others might wonder what happened to the average German people that made all of this possible that some very special parasitic tribe that are far above the rest of useless ones live very well and in healthy longevity while those who worked in coalmines, in steel mills and other bone crushing workplaces of “post war Jerman Entrepreneurs” while taxes were withdrawn instantly from their scrappy salaries and given to those sooo special victims in eternal need who (if at all) never worked in their incredible comfortable and luxurious fairy tale lifes.
Ah well they must have died young like all the others nameless natives anywhere have before them and before that but parasitism has not it strives on and on as kosher hypnosis has done its magic work. Billions around the world have died in silence but if one Jew dies somewhere in a foreign land its a global tragedy!
Death of a non Jew is not a protest. It is natural in the kosher way of unworthy lifes.
Andrew Windsor should be in a Travelodge
Story by Bill Curtis •
So it seems that Britain’s least eligible bachelor is finally leaving Royal Lodge for good, but not where we hoped.
Removal vans are pitched up outside the former home of the former prince, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
We know now where he will be heading off to for the moment. And no – it isn’t a two-bedroom flat in Milton Keynes.
He did not sleep with any underage girls, says his present girl friend age 10