Palestine Action prisoner absconds while sixth detainee joins hunger strike

A prisoner held on remand in the UK for alleged offences relating to Palestine Action activities has failed to return after being temporarily released from a south London Prison.

Sean Middleborough, 32, who was being held on remand at HMP Wandsworth, failed to return after being granted bail to attend his brother’s wedding.

Middleborough is among the “Filton 24” - a group of Palestine Action activists arrested on terrorism charges in connection with an action targeting an Elbit Systems weapons facility in August 2024.

While the terrorism charges have been dropped, the Crown Prosecution Service has said that their charges have a “terrorism connection,” which could aggravate their sentences.

Many have been held for over a year on remand - exceeding the legal six month pre-trial custody time limit.

Middleborough was arrested in a dawn raid on his home by counterterrorism police in November 2024.

He recalled in an interview with Declassified that he was unclothed at the time and “thrown” against the wall by officers.

He said that one arresting officer “pushed his arm in such a way behind my head that it pushed my ear up and tore the back of my ear”.

Meanwhile, his mother and 17-year-old brother were handcuffed and made to stand in their living room partially dressed.

“I got the impression they were raiding a violent terrorist who could attack them,” he said.

Middleborough is currently facing 18 months in prison. He told Declassified that he was “locked up for 23 hours a day” in a one-man cell which he was forced to share with another prisoner due to overcrowding.

He told Declassified that if he were to return to prison, he would join a rolling hunger strike launched by other prisoners held on remand in connection with Palestine Action activities over what they describe as “systematic abuse” by the prison authorities.

Sixth prisoner launches hunger strike

On Monday, Kamran Ahmed, 27, became the sixth prisoner to join the open-ended hunger strike.

He joins T Hoxha, Jon Cink, Heba Muraisi, Qesser Zurah and Amu Gibb in the mass food refusal after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood failed to respond to a letter demanding immediate bail and the de-proscription of Palestine Action.

Ahmed, another member of the Filton 24, was remanded to HMP Pentonville after being arrested in a dawn raid on his home by counter-terrorism police on 18 November 2024.

UK: Fifth Palestine Action prisoner joins rolling hunger strike over detention conditions

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His trial date is set for June 2026.

Ahmed said that he was launching his strike “in line with the stated demands, but also in solidarity with those who are having a harder time on remand than me.

“I hope the government reviews their decision to commence our unfair trial, and allow us to explain, before the jury, our reasons, because I honestly believe no reasonable person will convict us,” he added.

MEE previously reported that three of the striking prisoners have been repeatedly denied medical attention, despite HM Prison and Probation Service guidelines stating that prisoners should be given a “full initial assessment”.

Meanwhile, an independent commission is set to advise UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to rewrite the government’s terrorism definition, which it says is too broadly drawn, the New Statesman reported.

In a report due to be launched on Tuesday, the commission is expected to propose “more careful parliamentary oversight and judicial scrutiny” of proscription orders, and a stricter definition of the law’s “serious property damage clause” which will include a threshold of serious risk to life and national security, as well as the use of offensive weapons.

While the New Statesman says the report does not mention Palestine Action, it is likely to be widely viewed as a result of criticism of the government’s move to proscribe the group.