Katherine Hearst

2 days ago | middleeasteye.net | Katherine Hearst

British-Egyptian prisoner and activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has fallen ill after marking 50 days of a hunger strike, his family have reported. Abd el-Fattah, who launched a hunger strike on 1 March at Egypt's Wadi al-Natroun prison, is receiving treatment after he suffered multiple bouts of vomiting on Saturday. He had been subsisting on herbal tea, black coffee and rehydration salts since he heard that his mother Laila Soueif had been hospitalised in London.

2 days ago | middleeasteye.net | Katherine Hearst

At least a dozen detainees have died in Egyptian prisons this year amid deteriorating conditions, rights groups have reported. According to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), 13 people have died in prison due to medical negligence, ill treatment and suicide in the first few months of 2025, while the Committee for Justice (CFJ) puts the number at 11.

1 week ago | middleeasteye.net | Katherine Hearst

Israeli officials, flanked by security forces, raided six schools run by the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (Unrwa) in occupied East Jerusalem last week and handed 30-day closure orders to staff. The order was issued by the Israeli Ministry of Education, which claimed the schools were operating without licences. This means around 800 children will receive no education, only weeks before the end of the school year.

2 weeks ago | middleeasteye.net | Katherine Hearst

Italian lawyers have warned about violations of due process after a preliminary hearing for the case of three Palestinians facing accusations of terrorism. The three men, Anan Kamal Afif Yaeesh, Mansour Doghmosh and Ali Irar, were living in L'Aquila, northeast of Rome, when they were arrested. They are accused of setting up a cell linked to Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group associated with the Palestinian Authority's ruling Fatah party.

2 weeks ago | middleeasteye.net | Katherine Hearst

On 27 March, some 20 police officers burst in on a group of young women at a Quaker’s meeting house in central London and arrested them on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. The women were activists who had gathered for an open meeting of Youth Demand, a pro-Palestine and climate justice movement demanding an end to UK government arms sales to Israel and new fossil fuel licensing. The group emerged in the aftermath of Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October 2023.