London, United Kingdom – A month after being released on bail, pro-Palestine activists who participated in a months-long hunger strike in prison are planning on taking legal action over their alleged mistreatment.

On Wednesday, at a news conference where four of the activists spoke about life in jail and their lasting medical conditions, Lisa Minerva Luxx, a campaigner who supports the group, said the defendants are “seeking to take legal action against the prisons for their medical neglect”, adding, “legal action is due to take place”.

Eight young activists linked to the protest group Palestine Action began a rolling hunger strike in November that lasted until January.

Qesser Zuhrah, 21, Teuta Hoxha, 30, Kamran Ahmed, 28, and 31-year-old Heba Muraisi were bailed in February after the High Court ruled that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. They had been held on remand for 15 months in connection with a raid on the Elbit Systems UK factory in Filton, near Bristol, on August 6, 2024.

‘My hair is falling out in chunks’

Heba Muraisi, who refused food for 73 days, told Al Jazeera she is still suffering from “neurological issues”.

“My hair is still falling out in chunks, I can’t walk long distances without needing to take a break. Physically and mentally, I’m still recovering. I’m still not there yet,” she said.

She told the news conference that the treatment she faced in prison “only got worse” when the government proscribed Palestine Action as a “terror” group in July 2025.

Muraisi said she was physically assaulted to the point that the “wind was thrown out of me”, was regularly placed in solitary confinement, and had her keffiyeh confiscated – so she instead used a pillowcase as a headscarf while praying.

During her detention, Muraisi was transferred to a jail in northern England, much further from Bronzefield prison near her loved ones.

Prison authorities “refused to tell me where I was going,” she said. “My mother, who is unwell, couldn’t visit for five months.”

She claimed that she was not provided with electrolytes during her hunger strike “and only received vitamins after 30 days”.

‘A calculated regime of isolation’

Others, held at different prisons, spoke of similar patterns of alleged mistreatment.

Through tears and wearing a grey sweatsuit that resembled her prison gear – and that of Palestinians detained by Israel – Qesser Zuhrah said, “I was 19 when I was kidnapped from my home by counterterrorism police in a very violent raid.”

“For the entirety of my imprisonment, I was subject to a calculated regime of isolation, blocked from making any friends, especially other young people and Muslims,” she said. “One Muslim woman I met [was told by a guard that] there are dangerous people here and that she needs to be moved away from me.”

Zuhrah added that “multiple periods of prolonged confinement and isolation in my cell without reason” made her feel “like a ghost of myself”.

She said that one day, after two prisoners had died in a week, she asked the guards to unlock the cell of a claustrophobic inmate who was suffering from suicidal thoughts.

“They responded by assaulting me,” she said. “Female guards grabbed my arms, exposed my body, dragged me through the landing and up a metal staircase, and threw me into my cell against the metal bed frame.”

Zuhrah refused food for almost 50 days as part of the hunger strike, pushing her body to the limits. Like the other activists, she was hospitalised during this period.

“Our prisons mistreated us in the most elaborate ways, in order to teach us that our bodies don’t belong to us,” she said, claiming that she was also denied electrolytes and received vitamins after only 30 days.

Guards “tried to tempt me with food”, she said, alleging “cruel tactics” that impacted her health.

“On the 45th or 46th day, they left me paralysed with muscle wastage on my cell floor for 22 hours,” she alleged. “They left me to die on my cell floor, or at least let me believe that they would [leave me].”

‘I still bear the marks of the cuffs’

Kamran Ahmed, who refused food for 66 days, said he still suffers from chest pains and breathlessness.

He said that after being admitted to hospital, he was handcuffed to an officer while showering; the use of cuffs is usually restricted for people who are likely to escape or commit violence.

“I was chained so tight that even today I still bear the marks of the cuffs,” he said.

He also said he was made to walk without shoes during his detention.

“When I had to use the public toilet, with only socks, I had to dodge stains of urine and faeces,” he said.

Teuta Hoxha, who underwent two hunger strikes whilst on remand for 15 months, said that during the second protest, she lost 20 percent of her body weight “and was defecating my muscle mass in hospital whilst chained to an officer like a dog”.

She claimed, “I witnessed guards threaten other prisoners with 14 years for saying ‘free Palestine’.

“When I raised this incident with the prison’s regional ‘counterterrorism’ lead, a meeting I secured through the hunger strike, he used the analogy of a neo-Nazi fascist symbol to compare the two.”

She added that other prisoners were warned not to associate with us “because we were deemed to be terrorists”.

But ultimately, Hoxha said, “the British state failed to disappear our resistance”.

The group called off their hunger strike, claiming victory after the UK reportedly denied a military training contract to Elbit Systems UK, instead choosing Raytheon UK, the subsidiary of the US defence firm, which also has several deals with the Israeli military.

Known as part of the “Filton 24”, the detainees denied the charges against them, such as burglary and criminal damage. Twenty-three members of the collective have been bailed. Only Samuel Corner, who faced an additional charge of allegedly assaulting a police sergeant, remains in prison.

Four other hunger strikers remain in prison, accused of involvement in a break-in at a Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Oxfordshire.

Both incidents were claimed by Palestine Action.

The Home Office has been granted permission to appeal the High Court’s decision on Palestine Action. An April date has reportedly been set for the appeal.

Al Jazeera has contacted the Ministry of Justice for a response. Throughout their hunger strike, the ministry denied that the prisoners were being mistreated.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran has received an American 15-point plan for a ceasefire for the Iran war through intermediaries from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. The proposal was sent even as Washington began to move paratroopers to the Middle East to back up a contingent of Marines already heading there.

Iran’s military scoffed at the diplomatic efforts and launched more attacks Wednesday on Israel and the Persian Gulf region, including an assault that sparked a huge fire at Kuwait International Airport, sending black smoke billowing into the sky.

The Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release details, described the 15-point plan broadly as touching on sanctions relief, civilian nuclear cooperation, a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program, monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency, missile limits and access for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, has sent oil prices skyrocketing and rocked world markets over fears of a global energy crisis.

More US troops on the way even as diplomacy continues

At least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent top the Mideast in the coming days, three people with knowledge of the plans told The Associated Press.

The Pentagon is also in the process of deploying two Marine units that will add about 5,000 Marines and thousands of sailors to the region. The moves are being framed as U.S. President Donald Trump maneuvering to give himself “max flexibility” on what he will do next, the person added.

Trump has said that American officials are in negotiations with Iran, though he hasn’t said who they are in contact with. Iran’s Khatam Al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, which commands both the regular military and the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, suggested there are no talks.

“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?” said Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a spokesman for the headquarters.

“Our first and last word has been the same from day one, and it will stay that way: Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you,” Zolfaghari said in the video statement aired on state television. “Not now, not ever.”

Israeli officials, who have been advocating for Trump to continue the war against Iran, were surprised by the submission of a ceasefire plan, the official said.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Israel launches new wide-scale strikes on Iran

The Israeli military announced it had begun new wide-scale attacks early Wednesday on Iran targeting government infrastructure, and witnesses reported airstrikes in the northwestern city of Qazvin.

Missile alert sirens began early in the morning in Israel as Iran launched its own attacks, which have been a daily occurrence since Israel and the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.

Iran also kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors, with Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry saying it had destroyed at least eight drones in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province, and missile alert sirens sounding in Bahrain.

Kuwait said it shot down multiple drones but one hit a fuel tank at Kuwait International Airport, sparking a fire, the General Civil Aviation Authority said. Firefighters were working to contain the blaze.

Iran has allowed a small number of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, but none from the U.S., Israel or countries seen as linked with them.

Asked in an interview with India Today on Tuesday whether Iran was charging ships for passage, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said “absolutely,” but did not elaborate.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has neared US$120 a barrel during the conflict but was trading at around $100 in morning trading as talks of a possible ceasefire helped calm prices. That’s still up nearly 40% from the start of the war.

Diplomatic efforts calm energy prices but face huge hurdles

The 15-point plan now in Iranian hands is, in essence, “a comprehensive deal” to reach a ceasefire in the war, according to an Egyptian official involved in the mediation efforts.

In addition to allowing traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, it also includes restrictions on Iran’s missile program and its arming of armed groups, and “is being treated” as the basis for further negotiations between the nations, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the yet-publicized details of the proposal

Any talks between the U.S. and Iran would face monumental challenges. Many of Washington’s shifting objectives, particularly over Iran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs, remain difficult to achieve.

Also, it’s not clear who in Iran’s government has the authority to negotiate — or would be willing to, as Israel has vowed to continue killing the country’s leaders.

Mediators are pushing for a possible in-person negotiation between the Iranians and the Americans, perhaps as soon as Friday in Pakistan, the Egyptian official and the two Pakistani officials said.

However, that would require the Americans to immediately start traveling from the U.S. to be there in time. Meanwhile, Iranian officials likely remain worried about the Israelis, whose airstrikes in the war have killed officials up to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran is also highly suspicious of the United States, which twice under the Trump administration has attacked during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the strikes that started the current war.

“We have a very catastrophic experience with U.S. diplomacy,” Baghaei told India Today, adding that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had been in contact with Pakistani and other regional diplomats but that “there are no talks or negotiations between Iran and the United States.”

Zolfaghari said that the U.S. was in no position to negotiate.

“The strategic power you used to talk about has turned into a strategic failure,” he said. “The one claiming to be a global superpower would have already gotten out of this mess if it could.”

Speaking Tuesday at the White House, Trump said the U.S. is “in negotiations right now” and that the participants included special envoy Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.

“We have a number of people doing it,” Trump said. “And the other side, I can tell you, they’d like to make a deal.”

In an overnight call, Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince spoke to Pakistan’s prime minister about Islamabad’s efforts at supporting ceasefire talks.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the day-to-day ruler of the kingdom, discussed the “the repercussions of the ongoing military escalation on the security and stability of the region and the world” with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

When Trump was previously asked about reports that Saudi Arabia had been pushing him to continue the fight, the U.S. president called Prince Mohammed “a warrior.”

“He’s fighting with us, by the way,” Trump said, without elaborating. “Saudi Arabia has been excellent and UAE — excellent. And I will tell you, Qatar, incredible.”

Authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million.

Iran’s death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. In Israel, 16 people have been killed. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states.

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Madhani reported from Washington, Rising from Bangkok and Ahmed from Islamabad. Associated Press writer Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.

The U.S. military has sent MQ-9 Reaper drones to Nigeria, a U.S. defense official reportedly told The Associated Press, as fears are growing of a renewed insurgency by the terrorist group Boko Haram. 

The drones were deployed after 200 U.S. troops arrived in Nigeria last month to provide training and intelligence. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is battling a complex security crisis, especially in the north of the country. 

A spokesperson for AFRICOM, the U.S. Africa Command, told the AP that U.S. troops “are working alongside their Nigerian counterparts to provide intelligence support, advisory assistance, and targeted training in support of the Nigerian Armed Forces.” 

Among the most prominent Islamic militant groups active in Nigeria are Boko Haram and its breakaway faction, which is affiliated with the Islamic State and is known as Islamic State West Africa Province, or ISWAP.  

NIGERIA SUICIDE BOMBINGS KILL AT LEAST 23 PEOPLE, WOUND MORE THAN 100 

There is also the ISIS-linked Lakurawa, as well as other “bandit” groups that specialize in kidnapping for ransom and illegal mining. 

The U.S. troops and the MQ-9 drones are based at Bauchi Airfield, a newly built airport in the northeast of the country, the spokesperson said to the AP. The number of drones deployed remains unclear. 

The deployment is part of a new security partnership agreed on after President Donald Trump sounded the alarm about Christians being slaughtered in Nigeria’s security crisis. 

The U.S. launched strikes against IS forces on Dec. 26 — the day after Christmas.

Earlier this month, three suspected suicide bombings killed at least 23 people and wounded 108 others in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state in northeastern Nigeria. No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly fell on Boko Haram, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to enforce Sharia law.

100 US TROOPS LAND IN NIGERIA AS ISLAMIC MILITANTS THREATEN WEST AFRICA REGIONAL SECURITY 

MQ-9 drones cost around $30 million apiece and have separate models for land and sea. They can also be used to carry out airstrikes, but AFRICOM says they will only be used in Nigeria for intelligence-gathering and training. 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence says Boko Haram aims to “overthrow the current Nigerian Government and replace it with a regime based on Islamic law.” 

“The U.S. State Department designated Boko Haram a Foreign Terrorist Organization in November 2013,” it added. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.