Palestine Action hunger striker could die within days, doctor warns
In comments shared by Prisoners for Palestine, Dr Rupa Marya warned that Khalid's decision to stop drinking water could prove fatal within days.
The last Palestine Action prisoner still on hunger strike has stopped drinking water, prompting a doctor to warn that he could die within days.
Umer Khalid, 22, has refused food since November in protest against charges linked to alleged break-ins and criminal damage carried out on behalf of Palestine Action, reports The Guardian.
He briefly paused the strike at Christmas after becoming unwell, but resumed it 13 days ago. Khalid and seven others deny the charges and have demanded that prosecutors drop the case.
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All other hunger strikers have now ended their protests. The final three stopped 10 days ago after the government decided not to award a £2 billion contract to the Israeli arms company subsidiary Elbit Systems UK.
Khalid continues his protest despite suffering from limb girdle muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that causes muscle weakness and wasting around major joints and increases health risks.
In comments shared by Prisoners for Palestine, Dr Rupa Marya warned that Khalid's decision to stop drinking water could prove fatal within days.
She said people without fluid intake typically die from acute kidney failure and related complications within three to four days, adding that Khalid's underlying condition placed him at even greater risk.
"With Khalid's health condition, he faces an increased risk of death even sooner," she said.
She also criticised the UK legal system and warned that if the government continues to delay action, Khalid could be close to death by Monday.
Dr Marya is currently suspended by the University of California in San Francisco over online comments about Israel's war in Gaza.
She has accused the university of violating her right to freedom of speech and has filed a lawsuit.
Earlier this month, hunger striker Heba Muraisi, 31, reached 72 days without food, one day short of the longest recorded by Irish republican hunger striker Kieran Doherty, who survived the longest among the 10 men who died during the 1981 protests.
Prisoners for Palestine said the government's decision not to grant Elbit Systems UK the contract met a key demand of the hunger strikers.
Under the contract, the company would have trained 60,000 British troops each year.
The group said Elbit Systems UK had secured more than 10 public contracts since 2012 and described the Ministry of Defence decision as a shift in official thinking.
