Friends rally behind hunger striker
Friends have shown support for a hunger striker outside the Bahrain embassy in London
Jill Gibbon, the Quaker artist who draws what she sees at arms trade events, has sent a postcard in solidarity with Ali Mushaima, the hunger striker outside the Bahrain embassy in London protesting in order to try to save his father Hassan Mushaima, a prisoner of conscience in Bahrain. Ali Mushaima is calling for adequate medical care, family visits and access to books as part of his ‘Free Hassan Mushaima’ campaign, which many Friends are supporting.
Jill Gibbon, who poses as an arms dealer to gain access to arms trade events, told the Friend: ‘I’ve been so moved and concerned by Ali’s protest. Ali’s father was a key person in the pro-democracy movement, which was violently suppressed… He is in remission for cancer, but not getting the medical treatment he needs. It is such an awful indictment of British complicity in what’s happening in Bahrain. Britain is so keen to sell weapons to Bahrain.’
The postcard Jill Gibbon sent features an image of the badge that was worn by the Friends War Victims Relief Committee (FWVRC) during 1914-19. The FWVRC was set up to provide medical support for refugees in Europe.
Jill Gibbon, a member of Bamford Meeting, said the FWVRC has an ‘emotional connection’ to her, as her grandfather was a member.
She explained: ‘He was a conscientious objector in the first world war and went before a tribunal in the same way that Ali’s father did, and was given a death sentence… The badge is a symbol of how our international relations could be instead of how they are.’
Jill Gibbon is one of many Quakers supporting Ali Mushaima. Sheffield Friends sent a postcard to him. Quaker peace activist Sam Walton also slept one night outside the Bahrain embassy with him.
In a video Sam Walton released on the sixteenth day of the hunger strike, Ali Mushaima said: ‘I’ve begun to get dizziness, but I’m stronger from the inside. My empty stomach is stronger than this weak regime.’
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