On Saturday, Heba Muraisi told her friend Francesca Nadin she was dying. “She said it quite matter-of-factly,” Nadin told me. “I think she’s become quite used to staring that fact in the face.”
Yesterday, Muraisi ended her hunger strike after 73 days. She and one other alleged Palestine Action activist, Kamran Ahmed, announced they would begin refeeding as Elbit Systems – an Israel-based weapons company – failed to win a £2bn government contract. Another alleged activist, Lewie Chiaramello, who has type 1 diabetes and has been fasting every other day, also stopped refusing food.
Muraisi, 31, is imprisoned in HMP New Hall, in West Yorkshire, where she is awaiting trial over an alleged break-in at an Elbit Systems site in Filton, Bristol on 6 August 2024. She began refusing food on 3 November 2025. Until now, she has lived off tea and water, carefully measuring out salt for electrolytes to survive.
She began her hunger strike along with seven other people imprisoned for alleged pro-Palestine direct action. They had five demands, including a lift of the ban on Palestine Action, closure of the Israeli-owned defence firm and addressing complaints about their prison conditions and treatment. One prisoner, Umer Khalid, remains on hunger strike after restarting on 10 January. Muraisi survived longer without food than any of the 1981 Irish hunger strikers – the longest-lasting, Kieran Doherty, died on day 73.
Some of Muraisi’s family is from Palestine, giving her a personal link to the Israel-Hamas war. Her cousin moved to Gaza a few years ago, and is now missing. Muraisi’s family fear the worst.
Nadin visited Muraisi in prison last weekend. Muraisi’s immune system was so weak that she had to wear a mask, so Nadin couldn’t really see her face, but she was shocked by her emaciation and sunken eyes. She felt like if she were to hug Muraisi too tightly, she might break her. Muraisi told her friend that she was spending a lot of time lying down. Without body fat to shield her bones, sitting had become painful. She felt tired and dizzy, and was struggling with her memory and concentration. She could no longer read.
But Nadin thought her friend seemed buoyant. It was the first time they had seen each other in months. They joked about the pettiness of the prison guards. Muraisi said she was “overwhelmed” by messages of solidarity from activists and authors such as Angela Davis and Sally Rooney, and by demonstrations from supporters outside New Hall.
Muraisi’s strike had an extra, sixth demand: to move back to Bronzefield prison, where her mother, who is ill and has mobility issues, can visit her. This has now been granted. Prisoners for Palestine is claiming victory. “Our prisoners’ hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state,” it said in a statement.
Nadin spoke to Muraisi yesterday evening on the phone, after the strike had ended. Muraisi was preparing to go to hospital to begin the delicate process of refeeding. “She was so happy,” Nadin said. Muraisi said she was proud of the other protesters and was looking forward to seeing her mother soon.
Before Muraisi was imprisoned, she worked in London as a florist and a lifeguard. She likes emo music and wants to visit Ireland. “She’s just a normal person,” Nadin told me. “Just a person who couldn’t stand by and watch while this horrific genocide was happening.”
[Further reading: My degrading, yet hopeful, journey from Gaza to Britain]
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