BAHRAIN: Imprisoned Bahraini Human Rights Activist Has Started A Hunger Strike

Flickr: irenakausiute

By Miriam Berger

Bahraini activist Maryam al-Khawaja has launched a hunger strike — two weeks after Bahraini police imprisoned the prominent human rights defender when she landed in the country to try to visit her father, also in jail and on a hunger strike at the time.

EGYPT: Solidarity with the hunger strikers in Egypt

A growing number of political prisoners in Egypt have started hunger strikes in protest at lengthy jail terms, long periods of pre-trial detention, and ill-treatment in prison.

PALESTINE: Hunger Speech by Samer Issawi

Israelis:
I am Samer Issawi on hunger strike for eight consecutive months, laying in one of your hospitals called Kaplan. On my body is a medical devise connected to a surveillance room operating 24 hours a day. My heartbeats are slow and quiet and may stop at any minute, and everybody, doctors, officials and intelligence officers are waiting for my setback and my loss of life.

From Palestine to Pussy Riot: The Hunger Strike in the Digital Age

Whilst the hunger strike may have made its greatest political gains in the twentieth century helping to expose injustice, overturn prejudice and even overthrow empires, the release of Palestinian footballer, Mahmoud Sarsak, last week after a 95 day hunger strike demonstrates this ancient form of protest has lost none of its power. Indeed, in the digital age, the hunger strike is finding new influence.