Family raise alarm at Palestine activist’s prison hunger strike

Teuta Hoxha, 29, known as T, has refused food for nearly three weeks in a dispute with the managers of Peterborough prison over her treatment. Hoxha is one of 24 prisoners who are being held on remand in relation to Palestine Action’s raid on an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, Gloucestershire, in August last year.

A letter from 75 current and former medical professionals to NHS England and the prison authorities warns that Hoxha’s life could be at risk if she does not receive proper treatment, including regular electrolytes. It is understood that she received these for the first time on Friday, after 18 days without food.

Her sister, Rahma, 17, said Hoxha’s treatment in prison had worsened significantly since the Home Office’s controversial decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in July. Since then more than 700 people have been arrested in mass civil disobedience against the proscription. The latest is James Grote, a baptist minister, who was arrested in Oxford on Wednesday for holding a sign saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.

“My sister has been on remand since November 2024 and her trial is in April 2026, expected to last about two months,” said Rahma. “She tells me prison is a cesspit of boredom. She’s been called a terrorist by prison staff and told she belongs to a terrorist group. Everything is a struggle.”

Hoxha was not charged with any terrorism offences; she denies charges of criminal damage, violent disorder and aggravated burglary. The Crown Prosecution Service announced when it charged her that it would be submitting that the offences had “a terrorist connection”.

Hoxha was moved from HMP Bronzefield on the day MPs voted for proscription. She is demanding that she have her position as a library assistant reinstated and that all her mail be delivered to her; she has claimed that some letters were being censored and went undelivered.

In written comments seen by The Observer, she said that since moving to the prison in Peterborough: “I’ve been called a terrorist, heard an officer tell another prisoner that supporting Palestine is terrorism, accused of being part of a terrorist group and placed on report for saying ‘free Palestine’.”

Hoxha said a nurse asked why she was risking long-term damage to her health for such “insignificant” demands, to which she responded: “When the state has taken your house, your job, nearly two years of your life on remand – then the natural disposition is to want to hold on to every little bit of autonomy.”

The Filton raid, which allegedly involved a ram-raid with a decommissioned prison van, has been cited as evidence that Palestine Action was violent and should be banned as a terrorist group after a police officer was allegedly attacked with a sledgehammer. One alleged activist denies GBH.Elbit Systems UK makes drones and a wide range of “warfare technology”, including software for the Royal Navy and night-vision goggles for the British Army. The UN and human rights groups have accused the Israeli military of war crimes in Gaza. Hoxha had been staying with family friend Khadijah Knight, 78, when counterterrorism police raided the flat in November last year and arrested her.Knight, a retired teacher, said that Hoxha’s treatment had worsened when she was transferred to Peterborough.

Asked how the hunger strike had affected Hoxha, Knight said: “She looks a lot thinner ... I think she now realises that they actually don’t care whether she lives or dies, so she’s not going to give up until they respond to the demands.”

A spokesman for NHS England, which oversees healthcare for prisoners, said: “Prison healthcare providers are required to deliver care in line with relevant national specifications, including stepping up clinical monitoring of patients who refuse fluid and food to ensure safe and appropriate treatment.”

Sodexo, which runs Peterborough prison, was approached for comment.