Rights group disputes claim ministers cannot act over Palestine Action-linked hunger strikers

Human Rights Watch says attorney general has power to facilitate immediate bail, one of activists’ key demands

Human Rights Watch has written to the attorney general saying ministers’ claims that they cannot intervene in the hunger strike by Palestine Action-affiliated prisoners is “not fully true”.

One of the demands by those refusing food is for immediate bail and the NGO says Richard Hermer, the government’s most senior law officer, could facilitate this by instructing prosecutors not to oppose their bail applications, although the government denied this.