Harper Mead
T. Hoxha is a 29-year-old activist for Palestine and one of the Filton 24, a group of UK activists held on remand for their alleged participation in an action against an Elbit weapons factory in Bristol. As of Monday, September 1, she is on her 22nd day of her hunger strike at HMP Peterborough prison.
T began her hunger strike in response to being denied several fundamental rights by prison staff: her mail has been withheld for months with no valid reason; she has been prevented from participating in recreational activities with her fellow prisoners; lastly, despite working it for weeks with no issues, her library job has been denied to her. The removal of these basic fundamental rights is a disgusting and obviously targeted attack against a political prisoner.
It has coincided with the proscription of Palestine Action, the UK direct action group responsible for shutting down multiple Elbit locations. Making Palestine Action into a “terrorist” organization has galvanized prison staff into targeting T with psychological abuse and isolation. It is an attempt by the UK to intimidate anyone standing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
She has withstood constant guilt trips, derision, and stonewalling from prison staff, including a Muslim nurse who has attempted to use their shared religion to undermine T’s principled hunger strike. In the context of Palestine’s long history of prisoner hunger strikes to take their fundamental rights, this is an appalling betrayal of the Islam of Palestine, an Islam that has formed the foundation of resistance against zionism.
T’s commitment and outside public pressure have won her two out of three demands, but she is still being refused written confirmation of clearance for library work. A fourth demand has risen to the forefront: T Hoxha is in a state of extreme medical emergency after over three weeks of a hunger strike, the first 18 days of which she was denied vitamins and electrolyte sachets. She needs to be taken to an outside hospital for urgent treatment immediately.
To meet these demands, T needs as many people as possible to email and call HMP Peterborough, write news articles, contact UK embassies, and share her demands widely.
In addition to T’s deteriorating prison conditions, there are two other people at stake, now, too. Casey Goonan, the longest-held US political prisoner for Palestine, began a solidarity hunger strike on August 26. Casey has been held since June 17, 2024, in the Santa Rita Jail in California on multiple federal felony charges, and for months was the only political prisoner in the US connected to pro-Palestine actions. Their cellmate in Santa Rita has taken up the hunger strike as well.
Casey is a type 1 diabetic and puts themselves at extreme risk by undertaking this solidarity hunger strike, which only makes it that much more urgent that we step up to force T’s demands through in any way we can. It also makes it that much more powerful. The Palestinian resistance and its popular cradle of prisoner support show us the path now. Prisoners are the compass of our struggle and the tip of our spear. Without them, we lose not only our direction, but our ability to wage effective struggle, our framework of revolutionary morality, and our most determined and honorable soldiers.
T Hoxha is fatigued, dizzy, and short of breath. Her blood sugar is dangerously low, and she has dozens of other symptoms. If those in solidarity do not take action with her, it will be too late for her. We will never recover from the stain on our collective conscience.
Use the toolkit provided here to send emails, make calls, and find your nearest UK embassy.
Harper Mead is an aspiring cadre and a student brought to consciousness by the Al-Aqsa Flood.
