DOZENS of academics and authors have backed Palestine Action hunger-strikers’ demands for a fair trial and condemned the arrest of activist Greta Thunberg.

The Protest Not Terrorism website today published their co-signed statement: “We oppose genocide, we support the Palestine Action prisoners.”

A spokesperson for the collective said: “This statement is a declaration of support for the campaign by prisoners for the respect of their fundamental rights to a fair trial, to prompt and appropriate medical treatment, to uncensored communications with their legal representatives and the removal of punitive and draconian conditions imposed by the Prison Service triggered by the widely-condemned proscription of Palestine Action. 

“The signatories also affirm their solidarity with Greta Thunberg after her shocking arrest on terrorism charges for expressing solidarity with the prisoners.” 

Palestine Action hunger strikers Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed and Lewie Chiaramello remain in “imminent danger of death,” the Prisoners for Palestine campaign group said today.

Ms Muraisi reached 70 days without food, Mr Ahmed 63 days, and Mr Chiaramello 49 on January 11, the same day a fourth prisoner, Umer Khalid, announced that he had restarted his hunger strike.

Ms Thunberg, 22, was arrested while taking part in a demonstration in support of Palestine Action prisoners on hunger strike on December 23.

Footage showed her being detained in the City of London while holding a sign reading: “I support the Palestine Action prisoners” and “I oppose genocide.”

Police said that a woman had been arrested and later bailed for displaying a placard in support of a proscribed organisation, in this case Palestine Action, contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Professor Peter Hallward, one of the signatories to the statement, added: “The UK is now perilously close to full descent into authoritarian rule. 

“Ministers won’t even meet with hunger strikers who are now at death’s door. 

“[Prime Minister Keir] Starmer, [Justice Secretary David] Lammy, [Foreign Secretary Yvette] Cooper and [Home Secretary Shabana] Mahmood seem perfectly ready to let this country’s most committed and courageous opponents of an ongoing genocide waste away and die. 

“Now the police have begun arresting people just for using the standard Arabic word for ‘uprising,’ marking yet another draconian step in the elimination of what’s left of our freedoms of expression and of academic inquiry.” 

The signatories also include Naomi Klein, Angela Davis, Judith Butler, Sally Rooney and China Mieville.