Teuta “T” Hoxha, a 29-year-old political prisoner held in pre-trial detention at Peterborough prison in England, has ended her 28-day hunger strike in victory, having won all but one of her demands as of September 7. Hoxha is facing repression for her role in the Palestinian solidarity organization Palestine Action (PA), which is now banned in the UK.
Hoxha was arrested in connection with a PA action targeting the Elbit Systems weapons factory in Filton, England. On August 11, she began refusing food, citing worsening conditions and political retaliation following the UK government’s July 2025 proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization. Elbit is an Israeli weapons manufacturer with contracts providing equipment to the English imperialist armed forces.
Hoxha is one of 24 political prisoners held in pre-trial detention for the action against Elbit Systems. Imprisoned since November 2024, she denies all charges against her, which include burglary and “criminal damage”. She has not been charged with terrorism offenses, though the Crown Prosecution Service claims her alleged actions carry a “terrorist connection.”
Her hunger strike protested the cancellation of her recreational and educational activities, the withholding of her mail, and her removal from a job in the prison library. She also reported mistreatment by guards, who consistently refer to her as a terrorist. Hoxha believes these punishments were imposed retrospectively, following the parliamentary vote to ban Palestine Action. Notably, she was transferred from Bronzefield Prison to Peterborough Prison, a mixed prison, the day the proscription was announced.
The strike won reinstatement of her recreational activities and her previously withheld mail. She also received written confirmation that her removal from her previously-held library job was a result of the government’s designation of PA as a terrorist group. This admission opens a path for legal action against the prison and those involved in her treatment.
During her hunger strike, Hoxha reflected on her motivations:
“A nurse asked me why I was going on hunger strike, [doing] myself long-term damage for something so insignificant. Insignificant to you maybe, but when the state has taken your house, your job, nearly two years of your life on remand [pre-trial detention]– then the natural disposition is to want to hold onto every little bit of autonomy.”
Hoxha’s hunger strike was marked by a serious deterioration in her health. Her first medical check was delayed by over a week due to the prison’s failure to log her hunger strike until four days after it began. On August 25, she says prison staff asked her to sign a waiver releasing them from liability for any long-term damage or death; she refused. On August 29, after 18 days without food, she received electrolytes for the first time. By September 2, her blood sugar had dropped below safe levels, and her ketones had reached a dangerous threshold. Hoxha reported experiencing severe fatigue, nausea, rashes on her legs, and debilitating mental fog.
Casey Goonan, a political prisoner of the Palestine solidarity movement in California, joined the hunger strike in solidarity. After Hoxha declared her strike a success, Goonan released a statement revealing that the corporation running Peterborough Prison disclosed the involvement of JEXU (Joint Extremism Unit)—a secretive multi-agency government task force which monitors so-called extremist or “terror-related” activity in UK prisons. JEXU involvement was also confirmed by prison authorities. According to the statement, JEXU is directly blocking Hoxha’s reinstatement to her prison library job, despite JEXU acknowledging that there is no security basis for denying her the position.
On September 6, the day before Hoxha ended her strike, mass protests against the British government’s repression of the Palestinian solidarity movement broke out across London, with the police cracking down and arresting nearly 900 demonstrators. The demonstrations opposed the government’s ban on PA, which now makes it a criminal offense under the Terrorism Act to publicly express support for the group. Hoxha’s trial is expected in April 2026.
Image: Teuta Hoxha.
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