Hunger strike

This Al Jazeera Arabic/Focus film is about the experiences of Israeli-held Palestinian political prisoners on an open hunger strike to obtain better detention conditions.

Open hunger strikes have often been used in different parts of the world to draw attention to political and humanitarian causes.

By reconstructing Ayman Al Sharawna’s time in an Israeli jail, the film examines the strategic use of individual or group-initiated hunger strikes, what motivates hunger strikers, their survival under sustained pressure, and the mistreatment of detainees.

Interviewees include 1980s Irish hunger strikers Pat Shean and Brendan McFarlin, Palestinian prisoners like Samer Al Issawi; plus doctors, lawyers and researchers specializing in human rights and prisoner conditions.   

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