On Thursday 6th November, Jon Cink became the fourth pro-Palestine prisoner this week to refuse food and join an open-ended hunger strike that could become the largest coordinated prisoners’ protest in Britain since the 1981 Irish hunger strike.
The 24-year-old activist was remanded to HMP Bronzefield on 3rd July 2025 after being arrested and interrogated by counter-terrorism police in connection with a Palestine Action raid on RAF Brize Norton in June, where two leased transport aircraft were allegedly sprayed with red paint.
Cink’s decision to join the strike comes amid growing controversy over his provisional trial date of January 2027 – meaning he faces spending 18 months in custody before his case is heard. Even the presiding judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, acknowledged this represents an ‘inordinately long time for young people to wait in custody.’
Action as Solidarity
Before his involvement with Palestine Action, Cink had already established himself as an activist. In May 2024, he was arrested during a protest in Peckham, south-east London, where demonstrators blocked a coach scheduled to transport asylum seekers to the highly controversial Bibby Stockholm, a floating prison anchored off the Dorset coast. During the incident, approximately 60 protesters surrounded three police carriers for about two hours. Cink was charged with obstruction of the highway. The Bibby Stockholm was shut down in November 2024.
The Strikers’ Demands
The prisoners, now collectively known as Prisoners for Palestine, have issued a list of demands including:
- – Immediate release on bail
- – The right to a fair trial
- – An end to mail censorship
- – The deproscription of Palestine Action
- – Access to all documents related to cooperation between British and Israeli officials
Their demands were delivered to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood on 20th October, but there has been no government response.
Three Others Already Refusing Food
Cink joins three other prisoners who began their hunger strike earlier this week:
Qesser Zurah (20) and Amu Gib (30) began their strike on Sunday at HMP Bronzefield. Read more here. Heba Muraisi (30) joined them on Monday at HMP New Hall after she was moved there, far away from her family and support network. Read our earlier report here.
Historical Precedent
If the hunger strike continues to expand as planned, it would mark the largest coordinated prisoners’ hunger strike in the UK since 1981, when ten Irish republican prisoners died on hunger strike in Northern Ireland. That strike, led by Bobby Sands, attracted worldwide attention. Sands died after 66 days without food, but not before being elected as a Member of Parliament.
The 1981 strike remains the single largest hunger strike on UK soil in modern history, a record pro-Palestine prisoners may be preparing to challenge.
UK Complicity in Ghazzah
The hunger strikers’ demand for access to documents regarding British-Israeli cooperation comes amid mounting evidence of UK complicity in Israel’s genocide on Ghazzah. Analysis by Action on Armed Violence for Declassified UK revealed that the RAF has conducted at least 518 surveillance flights around Ghazzah since December 2023, operating from the RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus.
While the Ministry of Defence insists the flights are purely for hostage recovery, human rights groups have raised serious concerns that British intelligence gathered from these missions may be facilitating Israeli military operations that have resulted in mass civilian deaths and casualties. Numerous reconnaissance flights coincided with major Israeli military assaults.
Beyond surveillance, senior British military figures made at least twelve official visits to Israel during the Ghazzah genocide, according to Ministry of Defence expense records analysed by Action on Armed Violence. Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s Chief of Defence Staff, visited Israel on 21 January 2024 to meet Israeli military chief Herzi Halevi and ‘discuss future operations in the region’ – at a time when Israel had already killed around 25,000 Palestinians.
The Controversial Trial Delay
The January 2027 trial date for Cink and his co-defendants is particularly contentious. Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay KC acknowledged the date was ‘obviously a considerable distance away,’ with uncertainty about how long the trial might last – estimates range from six to eight weeks.
This means Cink and three others – Amu Gib, Daniel Jeronymides-Norie (36), and Lewis Chiaramello (22) – face spending approximately 18 months in custody before their trial even begins. All four are charged with conspiracy to enter a prohibited place and conspiracy to commit criminal damage.
The Filton and Brize Norton defendants have been refused bail and held on remand beyond the UK’s standard pre-trial custody time limit for crown court cases, which is 182 days.
The lengthy delays facing the defendants raises questions about the government’s real motivation for prosecuting activists targeting Britain’s military-industrial support for Israel. Some have suggested the Crown Prosecution Service is being dishonest in arguing these cases have a ‘terrorism connection’ when they have withdrawn explicit terror charges.
Heavy-Handed Repression
The hunger strikers’ protest comes amid an unprecedented government crackdown on pro-Palestine activism in Britain. Since Palestine Action’s proscription in July 2025, at least 2,000 people have been arrested – most for simply holding signs in protest at the proscription of the group, with many of those arrested aged 60 and over.
In July 2025, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk called the proscription a disturbing misuse of counter-terrorism legislation, urging the UK government to rescind its proscription decision and halt proceedings against those arrested on this basis.
“The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary,” Türk said, warning it “limits the rights of many people involved, with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity, but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.”
In August 2025, Action on Armed Violence published findings from an assessment of Palestine Action by the government’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC). The report concluded ‘the majority of the group’s activity would not be classified as terrorism under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000,’ and that the group’s actions centred on property damage. Considering the report, the British government’s treatment of the defendants appears disproportionate and overly punitive, without regard for individual rights. We are left wondering if jurisprudence has been trumped by politics.
Broader Support
More than 20 activist and solidarity groups – including Black Lives Matter UK, CAGE International, Campaign Against Arms Trade, and Health Workers for a Free Palestine – have endorsed the hunger strikers’ demands. Their joint statement describes the action as ‘a response to the government’s insistence on breaking international law and participating in genocide.’
No Government Response
The UK Ministry of Justice and Home Office have not issued public statements regarding the hunger strike. Under UK prison rules, inmates refusing food are monitored by medical staff, and authorities can intervene if a prisoner’s health is at risk.
As more prisoners are expected to join the rolling strike in the coming days, the government faces mounting pressure to address the strikers’ demands or risk a humanitarian crisis behind bars.
On announcing his hunger strike Cink said: “We know first-hand that repression makes the ground in which resistance grows more fertile. But we also know that to resist is to act. And action is always a choice. Every day is a new opportunity for defiance.”
— © 2025 Sul Nowroz – Real Media staff writer – Insta: @TheAfghanWriter
