Hunger: Filton and Why It Matters

As-salamu alaykum, I'm Mass Patel and welcome to In Conversation with the program where we sit down with the people behind the headlines, the stories behind the struggles, and the voices shaping our moment in history. Today, we bring you a world exclusive. For the first time since their release on bail on February the 4th, two former Filton 24 hunger strikers, Tutor Rosa and Kamran Ahmed, join us to speak publicly about their arrests, their time in prison, and the extraordinary acts of resistance that brought national and even international attention. Their stories began on the 19th of November 2024 when both were arrested in coordinated dawn raids by counter-terrorism police. Raids that

shook their families, their communities, and in Kamran's case, left his elderly parents without food or medication for hours. Both were accused of involvement in the Filton action, which caused over 1 million pounds in damage to an Elbit research facility linked to Israeli weapons manufacturing. Though the terror charges were later dropped, both were held on remand for months. In Inside prison, they say their fundamental rights were repeatedly violated. Kamran describes an underfunded, overstretched environment, chaotic, inconsistent, and at times dehumanizing where basic services were limited and dignity was often an

afterthought. Tutor, known to many simply as T, says she faced canceled education and recreation, withheld mail, and guards who repeatedly labeled her as a terrorist. She spent her 29th birthday behind bars, and then came the hunger strikes. In August 2025, Tutor stopped eating for 28 days in protest at what she describes as ongoing mistreatment. Her strike sparked solidarity actions across borders, including from political prisoners in the United States. She ended it only after securing concessions that she demanded. And Kamran also undertook a hunger strike and after his court hearing in March 2025, he reflected on the long history of people who resisted oppression before him from the suffragettes to the anti-war activists and the moral choices

that defined moments like these. This is their first interview, their first chance to speak to people freely, their first opportunity to tell the world their story in their own words. As-salamu alaykum, Tutor and Kamran. It's a real pleasure to actually sit with you because I interviewed your sister and also some of the activists on Islam Channel a number of times, and they spoke in such glowing terms about both of you. I saw your pictures as many people across the airwaves and read about your stories online. And it was quite something to cease the sacrifice you were both giving for a cause that you both really believed in. Let me start off with you, Tutor. How was it for you? I mean, look,

how do you feel? Let's start off with today. How do you feel now having come all those hurdles you sitting with a presenter in a studio in a TV channel talking about things that took place to you? Um firstly, wa alaykumu s-salam. And I think from a health perspective, you're going to have to bear with the both of us. For me, on my end, I still have issues with memory and mind fog and brain to speech coordination. I think coming out of prison, it was a very surreal experience. Um namely because I didn't think we would be coming out for years at least. When we were arrested, um we were told by the thugs that entered our broke into our

homes that we would be serving life imprisonment. Um and they were counter-terrorism police that raided us. So, yes, subhanallah, it just, you know, reaffirms my faith. Um alhamdulillah, and coming out, it's been overstimulating. You have to bear in mind I know people say that we've spent months in prison. We've spent nearly 2 years. So, both of us were arrested in November. So, we came out around month 15, whereas the others would have spent 18 months behind bars on remand. So, it's been interesting trying to rehabilitate back into daily life. Um and to enter into a space where you have control over everything and anything.

Like being inside prison, we, you know, couldn't control who we Um everything was controlled for us, who we spoke to, our medication, our pain relief, every sort of element. And because of the labeling that we had, we were being monitored under Jexu, which is the Joint Extremism Unit. There was an extra layer wherein they would have monthly MDMs, a monthly multi-disciplinary meetings to um go over what we were allowed in terms of association, in terms of jobs, um in terms of security clearance. So, alhamdulillah, it's surreal and all we can say is we can just be grateful to Allah for this moment. Yeah, I can feel the emotion in your voice and obviously the experience, you know, not many will go through that experience.

I hope that talking on this show, for example, you know, gives you some semblance of rehabilitation as you very rightly put it. Kamran, in terms of yourself, uh there were pictures of you completely emaciated. Your sister came here and she spoke about um you know, what the family had gone through. I spoke about how your parents were left without food for hours um until someone eventually, you know, found out that, you know, they needed to be looked after. Describe those first moments when you were taken away. What do you feel? So, if is a very layered question because of course if I could answer it in a short time, I wish I could. But immediately, I think it's kind of I think rather than looking at that

first moment of arrest, I always reflect on the time that I spent in custody, the first few days. And the first day, of course, there's this idea of freedom that we all have. Everyone in the public eye or just the general public itself will have this idea of freedom that it can't be taken away from you unless you do something completely wrong. And we prepare our whole lives to that ideology. So, we buy our houses or we buy cars and we build things around that ideology that our freedom is secure. The moment my freedom got taken away, everything just shattered. So, the job that I was doing, the garage that I owned, or even leaving my shed half-built for my mom to go complete and my dad to complete in my absence.

It's It's moments like that make you wonder and really question society as a whole. I think when I was in custody, because this is what I like to reflect on, is that the first moment that I entered that cell, everything came crashing down on me. It was like, all right, I'm I'm serving maybe 2 years cuz in my head I thought 2 years maximum, maybe potentially. Uh and it felt like the whole world had stopped just for them 2 years. But then when I spoke to my solicitor and she says, "Actually, you're looking at maybe potentially 10 years." This was the first interview. It kind of I went back to my cell crying. Uh or not bullying, but just with the TMI thinking all right, cool, I'm going to [snorts] come out old. And then the next interview happened and

then she says, "You might be looking at life in prison. They're going for this role and etc." that's the feeling that I want everyone to kind of acknowledge, which is that the situation, what you think is really bad, ends up being even 10 times worse. And it kept going. The boulder just kept rolling down that hill and it kept accumulating that speed. So, what I'd like to touch on, because of course I don't want to make it sound I was completely upset during custody, is that on the final interview where I was looking at 25 years or whatever, my solicitor said that I think at that point I related all matters to Allah. And I remember going back to the surah and reading Surah Al-Asr, which is of course to do with

time, and Allah swears by time. And that surah in itself reminded me that time doesn't belong to me. And those 25 years, if I was meant to have them in freedom, Allah will write that in the book above. And if he doesn't write that for me, then it was never destined for me. So, I would have lost that regardless. So, the fact that fast forward, I'm here, alhamdulillah, Allah has written me time in freedom. And the 1 and 1/2 years that I lost, I look at as like that was not meant to be for me. Bearing in mind, we still have a retrial coming up in September and I think Tutor's is earlier, but also not my retrial, sorry, my co-defendant's retrial, which is next week, and my trial in September.

Uh Tuse, in terms of the Let's the cause that you felt so strongly about and your faith, how were they How did they help you go through those dark moments, which obviously Cameron describes for himself? Um how was it How did you use them, perhaps, to keep yourself um going, I suppose? Um is that something that helped you? I think I'll take it um back to the start and you know, I've been, you know, Muslim my whole life. However, I would say I would class my I would have classed myself as um you know, Islam that had been inherited because I grew up in a Muslim household.

And I think I went through the period of um questioning, as one does in the earlier stages. Of course, yeah. And in January 2024, I did uh two actions. Well, in January I did one, which was a lock-on outside Elbit Systems in Bristol. And a few months later, I did one outside BNY Mellon um in Manchester, and they are a bank that invests over £10 million in Elbit. Um so, for me, watching the situation in Gaza, as a writer, I didn't even have the imagination for the suffering that they were going through. I remember, like, vividly this one video of a father running into a tent, and he was

delirious and wailing, and he was carrying two bags. And he was saying that he had picked up bits of his children in these two bags. We saw that, yeah. And, you know, there's been so many of these disgraceful, distressing moments. You know, I watched an interview of an international health worker who said that she had to do perform an operation to give to help a headless woman, a headless body, give birth to a child. So, for me, the turning point when it came to faith was the genocide in terms of I'm someone who thinks in black and white, so I believed that systems would operate in the way that I was raised to believe

that they would. Mhm. So, there's this term that I learned when I was in prison. I believe it's pronounced agnorisis, which is describing a character's shift from ignorance to knowledge. And so, for me, Gaza created this movement um in my mind and this detachment in terms of evaluating what I viewed as essential um and detaching myself from values that I had been told to hold in high regard. So, whether that's, you know, social status, job, um whatever it was. And, you know, I grew up in a working-class family. However, I got to the position where I could go into a designer shop, let's say, and buy what I wanted without having to look at the price tag. I could, you know, pay 6 months' rent up front. I could um I had

a good credit score. Yeah. Um but the turning point for me was again, this evaluation of do These aren't things that I value. I value my peace of mind. I value my Muslim sibling, and I value my relationship with Allah. Um So, can I just ask you, when did that shift come about? Cuz that's quite profound, you know, where you've gone from the material Yeah. to the more spiritual. Um what Tell us where how that came about. So, it's difficult to pinpoint. Um so, previous to the genocide, um I was practicing, but in a way where your practice is just part of your daily life, rather than a conscious decision. Um and so, it wasn't until the genocide was being live-streamed and Subhan Allah, we saw the

the complete faith that our Palestinian siblings have in Allah um and their response to the devastation that they were experiencing. And so, I think for me and a lot of people, that brought a lot of shame to me because alhamdulillah, you know, I'm in this privileged position and I have been raised in a Muslim household. And I have access to this ideology that is fed by states. Um this ideology of peace and resilience and resistance. yeah, it was on the back of the response of the Palestinians to the occupation and the genocide. Cameron, I mean, Tuse, whenever she speaks, she speaks with such depth, it's incredible.

Um for you, you spoke about your faith, going back into that prison cell, reading the surah Yeah. about time. Yeah. You both strike me as people who have got a lot of knowledge, you know, um a lot to give in terms of your faith and what how you used it to overcome your personal challenges. Do you think that you are quite unique in the sense that many people responded with outrage, but they were perhaps marching or writing letters or doing other forms of direct action. Whereas, you went to the extent where the, you know, you're compared to the suffragettes, you took absolute direct action. Do you think that's because of your makeup, or was it because of the experiences? What brought it about for you?

I just want to start off by saying I'm not a scholar or someone that has You're very humble. Uh like, I don't want to say that I have knowledge Islamically. Um I'm still learning as the days go on, and the picture that I was yesterday is not the picture that's being painted today. So, I'm always adding to it. But, I would say that of course, everyone that takes uh action, uh it happens in stages. So, when we see an injustice, we'll try to stop it. And of course, people feel that protesting by marching or writing to their MPs is a way of stopping it. Eventually, when you keep knocking at that door and that door isn't being answered, you are going to result into a different approach. And the UK in general has exhausted

a lot of avenues in trying to get our voices heard for the Palestinian people. Mhm. Um protesters have been demonized um and repressed by the justice system. So, we're seeing cases of unjust cases of Majid Freeman uh speaks out about a lot of things on social media, and unfortunately, he's going through his own uh legal battles. Mhm. So, when we see all these things, and we see that this justice system is built up on a glass wall, then of course, I don't think we're unique to anyone. I think we just went through the stages earlier. And I think everyone will eventually go through that stage where they're probably protesting today, but tomorrow they might wake up and be like, "Guys, we haven't made a change yesterday." And I'm not saying

protesting doesn't make a change. Protesting definitely does. Everything's like a giant spider web, and every action will accumulate. And eventually, inshallah, of course, Allah grants freedom to uh everyone that goes is undergoing oppression. But, there will come a point where people some people, not all, but some people will potentially, of course, view other avenues as the only way to liberate people under oppression. Uh So, to answer that question, I don't know if I have uh because I caught onto the part about the uniqueness and kind of fumbled me. Um But, no, we're not I don't think I don't know if Tuse thinks the same, but I don't think I'm unique in any way. I think uh we're pretty much your bang-on average Joe who walking down the street, to be

honest. Uh we just Yeah. And just to add to that, I think, you know, there's 24 of us. Um and by the way, I'm going to talk about the action as alleged because we've not been convicted. And obviously, I have taken direct action previously, so I can talk on that. There's We come from all different backgrounds, and we all had jobs. We were students. We were, you know, some of us had kids, and some of us still do have kids. Um, but we aren't a step above your average person. So, if there's no unattainable gap, um, people need to remember that we went through the same process. We wrote the letters.

Um, I wrote to my MP. I wrote to the Home Office. Um, I explored all the avenues we did. I did, um, fundraising. And it comes to the point where you realize that there are weapons factories operating in your backyard. You know, I make the point about Elbit Systems. And I know when I was in prison and the mainstream press were reporting, they'd call it a defense company. Now, just to enlighten your viewers, um, Elbit Systems UK is a subsidiary of Elbit Israel. And that is Israel's largest weapons uh, manufacturer. In, um, his book called Palestine Laboratory, Anthony Loewenstein, he writes that in 2021, um, during a, uh, Paris

um, arms fair, Mhm. Elbit used live footage of, live war crime footage taken in Gaza and Palestinian villages showing how their drones and weapons operate. So, and they advertise their, um, weapons as being battle tested on Palestinians. So, direct action is the only tangible way if you, um, have, you know, a weapons company, a manufacturer in your backyard, essentially, direct action is putting your body in between that weapon leaving that factory and landing on a child in Gaza. Uh, let's just want to shift your attention to, um, how events have unfolded out there and what how you feel your efforts to stop the genocide, um, contri- contributed to what you see now.

There is a ceasefire of sorts. Um, there are peace talks. There are less killings than there were. Do you think the world has failed the Palestinians in so far as stopping the killing? And do you believe that the world needs to move much more further in terms of, for example, as you said, you know, the British government stopping all arms sales to Israel. What How do you see things? What's your cause that you're asking for now? I definitely think that the world does need to, uh, go further in stopping what's going on over in Gaza. Um, and which has expanded to Lebanon and Iran. Yeah. as well. So, of course, I do think that we do need to take an active step, but in terms of Britain in itself,

they can take the same steps that France has taken, which is and Spain, where Spain's gone under an arms embargo almost a year and a half ago, long before some of the events even transpired that were we're seeing now. So, in that sense, the British government can emulate their counterparts in the European, uh, sphere and follow them. Uh, and they haven't suffered the repercussions uh, that maybe alluded to by higher, uh, business chains or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah. Because, um, Spain is completely operating fine and France is also operating pretty fine as well. So, I can imagine that standing on the right side of history and standing up for justice is attainable on British soil. Um,

Tudor, what's your ask of, uh, the British government? What do you think they need to do in terms of, um, your, you know, your campaign, you know, against Elbit, against the banks that are funding the this system? I'm not a political commentator and I won't be asking the British government to do anything, especially a government that is appealing the de-prescription of Palestine Action, um, and a government that has held us on remand, so kept us in prison without trial for nearly 2 years, and a government that were willing to let us die. So, my directions aren't towards the government. Um, and I think with this, you know, idea of a ceasefire, an idea of peace talks and

less killings than before, I think that's, you know, ludicrous considering the fact that Israel just passed a law to execute Palestinian prisoners, and only Palestinian prisoners. Um, of whom there's thousands that are being held, um, without charge, um, and of whom there's hundreds that are children. So, why would I ask the British government to do anything when our RAF bases are currently Is it the people then? Is it the people of Britain that you're sort of appealing to and saying, "Look, we can't be complicit, I suppose, in this, you know, arming Israel and the killings?" Well, it's not a matter of we can't be complicit, we are complicit.

Um, and it's been over 2 years now. Um, and the public have seen what our RAF bases hold. Um, because there have been images of US bombs, um, being loaded and unloaded onto these aircrafts. They go and attack a country, then come back and reload. So, our country and our, so to speak, backyards are on the front lines of genocide and this regional catastrophe. Um, and I don't understand how continuing to march and essentially begging the powers that be, the powers that, according to an article, I believe it was the Guardian um, they sat down, with I believe representatives of Elbit Systems to discuss our case, um, and there's been a lot of political interference, um, in our case. So, UK has reached a point where a private arms company

and a foreign government are able to dictate who to imprison and who to essentially label terrorist or not. And this foreign government is the same government that kill Palestinian children on the pretext that they will grow up to be terrorists. Yeah, quite, um, quite stark, really. Cameron, did you want to add to that or So, I think, uh, I think I uh, because, of course, when we're talking about, uh, appealing to what's our bill? Um, for me, I'd like to address the general public, um, which is of course, that when we elect these government uh, individuals into power, we've seen that the political mafia has run to the core.

Uh, Um, did your MP Did you meet your MP? Did you speak to Yes, yes, I spoke to my MP. Unfortunately, their hands are very tied. And they often say that themselves. I'm sure people have watched the video where when we were on hunger strike, the parliament actually laughed, uh, regards to the question posed by Jeremy Corbyn. So, my appeal is mainly to the people that you've you've already tried this avenue. Mhm. Uh, and the Palestinians are actually asking and giving us a solution, which is get Israel get these weapons that are being supplied to Israel from Britain to stop. So, that's the Palestinian solutions and that's what they're asking us. And

they're not asking us to go above and beyond and do something absolutely wild. They're telling us to just enact international law, where UN has already called a genocide. So, because the government individuals aren't enacting it and we've elected them and we've given them the power, us as the public now have to be on the front line and stop these weapons actually leaving British shores just how many of other European countries have like Italy and other places. And other places, yeah. Uh Tute, just uh in terms of the impact it had on your family, how was that? Did they were they able to Have they been as traumatized as you?

What's How do they feel about everything? So, with my family, to tell you the truth, with the hunger strikes, I um didn't actually tell them. I think they found out online. Um and the reason for that is I understood why I needed to do the hunger strike. Um and I know friends and family will, you know, speak to you from a place of emotion. However, being on the inside, where I as I spoke uh said previously, every facet of your life is controlled. Um and essentially, when the prescription happened, we became the punch bags of prescription. So, I was removed from my library job.

Um I was placed on to wing work, which is cleaning the toilets. Um and I found out later that the library job, people who had been sentenced for crimes like murder, had a higher security clearance than me, someone on remand and who holds no convictions and is still is innocent. Um So, for me, um going on hunger strike was about holding on to my autonomy. Um and I understood what I needed to do. And family actually was used as a tool of blackmail by the managers. Um posing, you know, how would your family feel if something happened to you? Um which is interesting considering the fact that they would rather me rot away in prison on remand um as if that wouldn't have an effect on my family.

I want to ask you something very direct and I hope uh you understand where it's coming from. During those 28 days, did you ever think that you may, in fact, um die? So, I did two hunger strikes. The first one was in August and that was for three demands. And that was 28 days. My second one was the collective hunger strike that we did together and that was 56 days. So, for me, you know, the question is never whether I was going to die, but why the government were willing to let their citizens get to that stage and why the government were laughing in Parliament um and why the government are allowing external interference in our case.

I think this idea of a hunger strike, you know, it's a legacy that's continued from Palestinian prisoners, from Guantanamo detainees, from Irish um prisoners. In Palestine, people go on hunger strike. Um you know, we know about the conditions that they're kept in. We know about the abuse, the sexual abuse, the physical abuse. It's evil. Um they go on hunger strike not because they think anything will be resolved by Israel. At the end of the day, Israel has just passed a law to um for the death penalty of Palestinian prisoners, but they go on hunger strike for autonomy and to maintain their dignity. Um and I think, yes, that's the question that everyone should be asking themselves, why was the government willing to let us die?

Cameron, you've spoken about the prison being underfunded and understaffed. Um how did those conditions sort of shape your experiences and um influence your decision to sort of do your protest through a hunger strike? So, to speak on the conditions, of course, um there was days where and this is across the whole board with all the prisoners, so it's not unique to me, where some days we wouldn't be leaving our cell. So, some days we'd go two, three days without coming out of our cell at all. Uh I went into Pentonville during to remind the viewers, you're on remand, you've not Nothing's been proven. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Completely innocent. That's That's the maximum, isn't it? I think it's important to highlight that even 23 hours in solitary confinement can drive someone crazy, but going three days, there was people going crazy. Alhamdulillah, I managed to hold on to faith. So, it can be very grounded and kept almost a reality It was like a reality check. No, no reality check, I should say, but more like something to hold on to that was real. Uh but that's not the reason why I went on hunger strike and the conditions in the prison and I can go on and on about prison conditions. I actually went on hunger strike to challenge the government on the basis that we weren't having a fair trial.

Um On the base the there's so many aspects that outlined in our five demands um that was publicly put out there online in regards to the hunger strike. But my main drive for that hunger strike was to challenge the right to a fair trial. Mhm. And I want to highlight something because, of course, I'm not allowed to talk about the case in detail due to legal reasons. Sure. Which shows which does outline how politicized this case is. But I can talk about an event that happened outside of that of case details, which is that I was granted bail a year and a maybe a year ago or so.

Uh and that bail decision got overturned. And the judge that was on that bail hearing Mhm. actually got removed from the case, from proceeding any further. Uh from doing any future proceedings, I should say. So, for me, that hunger strike was to challenge all these little obstacles that were put in the place that was put in place by Oh, and I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but by those uh discussions that are going on behind the scenes with uh Israeli ambassadors and CPS and government authority figures. So, that was my main drive for the hunger strike. Uh so, did you, when you were doing your hunger strike, did you ever get to the point where you thought you may actually die for this cause? So, my intention was never to pass away,

but if I did pass away, it would have been at the behest of the government. It would have been a byproduct of the government being unwilling to grant us our fundamental human rights. And the fundamental human rights was uh immediate bail because we are held on remand for a very long time Mhm. without trial. Um Custody time limit is six months. Of course, they applied a much uh longer time frame for us. Uh fair trial and other bits and bobs. So, to say that My intention was never to pass away. Uh but if it did happen, it would have been a byproduct of what the government had put in place.

Tute, um you've been out for a while now. What support have you received? I mean, have you been surprised at the level of sort of coverage that you've had? Have you Or have you been disappointed at the level of support perhaps you you've had? What's your feeling now that you're outside and obviously you've got a child coming? Um Give us a sense of that. So, I think for me, in terms of coverage, you know, media and legacy media have given permission, you know, in one way for the genocide to continue um in their framing of calling children a young lady um also, the fact that we reached day past day 30 from my memory before media actually Mhm. decided to cover. Yes, that was an issue. And

I think that's a grotesque issue, the fact that you have eight hunger strikers and the largest hunger strike happening in the UK since um the 1980s Irish hunger strikers and you waited until I guess a viral moment to capitalize on that. In terms of the support during my hunger strikes, you know, there was amazing intersectional and international support from different solidarity movements. You know, we've I had prisoners from America, Casey Goonan and Malik Muhammad join in solidarity hunger strike. We've had brother Mansoor Adeyfi, former Guantanamo detainee, also join in a hunger strike. The human response has been very strong and connected.

I think what is needed is the response from us as humans to and as Muslims because obviously I, you know, I'm talking to other Muslims right now. Our response and obligations to other humans. I think that is what needs to be pushed. And I understand people you know, are continuing to protest and doing these I would call passive forms of protest. However, there's more tangible ways to impact and save a life. Kamran, in terms of you obviously spoke about your trial coming up in September. In terms of your life, I mean, how do you What do you normally do? I mean, I've not asked you

that since I was coming to the end and perhaps asking you to get finish on a more lighter note. I mean, what are your aspirations? What do you want to I want to just keep it quite simple, which is I want to see My aspirations is to be able to see a free Palestine and a much more just world and that's I don't think until I can see that I'll be able to rest. I'll keep it as short as that, to be honest. Well, I think you're both very remarkable individuals and I'm sure viewers will agree with me that in terms of all the interviews that I've done, this has probably been one of the most moving to listen to. Two people who literally put their lives on the line

for a cause which many of us actually are very passive about and feel it's it's something to do when the call is given and then to get back to your normal lives. I know it's not easy for everybody. We have our own complications to deal with. But certainly in terms of the people I've got in the studio today, I have to say that um it's something which is going to be moving for many of you. And hopefully they get through overcome their the obstacles that are thrown their way. Folks, I'm afraid that's all we've got time for. Thank you for joining me within conversation today with two amazing people, Tute and Kamran. Thank you. Jazakallah.