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An Email I sent to our MPs about Qesser Zurhah, the #HungerStrikers and #PalestineAction (Thread, sorry)
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Dear MP,
Yesterday, a most serious thing occurred in our country, something we had not witnessed since 1981: a young lady, held on remand, who was on hunger strike, almost lost her life.
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I do not speak lightly here. Four prisoners have died at HMP Bronzefield, which is a private rather than a state-owned prison. The most infamous example is Natasha Chin, who died in 2016, less than two days after she arrived at the prison, after she had vomited continuously for nine hours and was not given medical attention or her prescribed medication.
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Then there was the woman who had a baby in her cell, alone. The baby died.
But the difference between her case and other people who died on hunger strikes in 1981 is most profound. They were convicted IRA terrorists. She is not. She is only held on remand.
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Let us look at what happened over the last few days:
Qesser Zuhrah is one of 5 people charged with allegedly breaking into RAF Brize Norton and spraying two planes with red paint in June. In November, she began a hunger strike. Yesterday, (17 12 25) she entered day 46 of that strike, a desperate action she has taken because of the unreasonable way she has been treated as a prisoner on remand.
(I apologise for the gruesome details; two IRA hunger strikers had died before 46 days had elapsed)
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She has been charged with conspiracy to commit criminal damage and conspiracy to enter a prohibited place for a purpose prejudicial to the safety and/or interests of the UK. These charges stem from an alleged break-in and vandalism at RAF Brize Norton in June 2025.
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A trial date has been set for January 2027, meaning she faces a lengthy period of detention without trial, significantly exceeding the UK's standard pre-trial custody time limit for Crown Court cases [1], which for this sort of crime is supposed to be no longer than six months. I cannot emphasise enough that Qesser is not being held as a terrorist, so there is no justifiable ground to detain her for so long without bail release.
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This is a bonfire demo instance for testing purposes
