Three Palestine Action Activists End Hunger Strike After UK Government Refuses To Award £2bn Contract To Elbit Systems UK

Three activists affiliated with Palestine Action — Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi and Lewie Chiaramello — ended a prolonged hunger strike after the UK government reportedly decided not to award a roughly £2 billion Ministry of Defence training contract to Elbit Systems UK, campaigners and multiple news outlets said.

“- A hunger strike by prisoners campaigning under the Prisoners for Palestine banner has effectively achieved a key demand: the UK government (via the Ministry of Defence) refused to award a contract to Elbit Systems UK”

5Pillars

Campaign group Prisoners for Palestine described the contract refusal as meeting a 'key' demand and the immediate reason several detainees began medically supervised re-feeding, although other reports noted some participants had already paused earlier.

5Pillars

The detainees are remanded and await trial on allegations connected to Palestine Action demonstrations; organisers and supporters deny the charges and say the strike highlighted pre-trial detention conditions.

Several outlets warned the strikers had reached durations comparable to past fatal hunger strikes and were at acute medical risk.

Doctors oversaw re-feeding because of the danger of multi-system organ failure or other life-threatening complications.

BBC

Heba Muraisi was reported to have reached day 73, Kamran Ahmed had been hospitalised, and Lewie Chiaramello, a type-1 diabetic who had been fasting intermittently, was among those re-feeding.

Campaigners and some medical observers urged careful supervised re-feeding because of the well-documented risks.

Prison healthcare leaders met strike representatives, and reports said immediate practical improvements, such as the return of withheld mail, delivery of books, and apologies for delays, were secured in some cases.

The hunger strike was presented as both a protest over conditions and part of a broader campaign aiming to halt Elbit's UK operations and reverse the proscription of Palestine Action.

“Three Palestine Action activists — Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi and Lewie Chiaramello — have ended a 73-day hunger strike in UK prison and begun "re-feeding," the campaign group Prisoners for Palestine said”

bernama

Reporting identified the detainees as among the 'Filton 24' held on remand and charged with offences related to alleged break-ins or criminal damage at an Elbit site; defendants deny the allegations.

Supporters said the strike began on 2 November to press multiple demands including blocking the Elbit contract, ending the organisation's proscription, improved access to communications and closer prison placements for some detainees.

Official and investigative angles differed across reports.

Several accounts linked the MoD’s contract decision to internal concerns and a whistleblower dossier alleging improper contacts between a former brigadier and Elbit.

CNN

The MoD said it had investigated and blamed administrative delay, while an internal review found no breach of business‑appointment rules in at least one report.

Prison service and healthcare leaders held talks with prisoner representatives, but outlets noted uncertainty whether the contract decision represented a broader policy shift or a discrete procurement outcome.

Activists hailed the outcome as a victory and vowed further action against Elbit while promising to challenge the proscription of Palestine Action.

“Activists from Palestine Action allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton — Britain’s largest RAF base — and sprayed red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft before leaving undetected”

Daily Mail

Human rights and medical observers warned about potential long-term harm to detainees.

Daily Mail

Some outlets emphasised the symbolic and political significance, describing the action as a 'landmark' protest or 'an embarrassment for the British state'.

Other outlets cautioned that the procurement outcome might not signal a lasting policy change.

Reporting also contains small but notable inconsistencies, for example the surviving ongoing striker’s name appears as 'Umar Khalid', 'Umer Khalid' or 'Umar/Khalid' across pieces, which shows editorial variation in detail.