Family fear Palestine Action hunger striker will die in prison

Teuta Hoxha is on day 43 without food

Teuta, 29, has been on remand for 13 months, and she began her hunger strike 43 days ago.

Speaking to Sky News, her family expressed their fears that she may die if the UK government does not intervene.

"I know that she's already instructed the doctors on what to do if she collapses and she's instructed them on what to do if she passes away," her younger sister, Rahma, said.

"She's only 29 - she's not even 30 yet and nobody should be thinking about that."

She added: "She's been on remand for over a year, her trial's not until April next year and bail keeps getting denied."

Rahma, 17, said her sister is still calling her from prison every day to help her with homework.

"She's like my mother figure," she said. "Our mother passed away when I was really young.

"Teuta took care of me and my siblings and made sure to read us bedtime stories. She's always there for me and even from prison, she's helping me do my homework and revise for exams."

"My sister is a caring and loving person," she added. "It feels like the state has taken a piece of me."

Teuta is part of a group of eight prisoners who are facing charges in relation to alleged break-ins or criminal damage on behalf of Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist group this summer.

More than 800 doctors, nurses, therapists and carers wrote a letter to Justice Secretary David Lammy last week, saying that “without resolution, there is the real and increasingly likely potential that young British citizens will die in prison, having never even been convicted of an offence”.

Speaking to ITV, Dr James Smith said: “The hunger strikers are at imminent risk of irreversible damage to their bodies, and of death.

“It is my view, as an NHS doctor, that the complexity of the hunger strikers’ care needs must now be managed with regular specialist input if not continuous monitoring in hospital.”

Dr James Smith further told journalists: “Put simply, the hunger strikers are dying.” 

He added: “They are all now at a critical stage.”