Christmas Adjournment

Debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Adnan Hussain

Thursday 18th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Jeremy Corbyn (Islington North) (Ind)]

I join the House in wishing you a very merry Christmas, Madam Deputy Speaker. I thank all our office staff and all staff in the House for everything they do to assist us over the year.

This morning, I was at a very well-attended press conference with my hon. Friend the Member for Leicester South (Shockat Adam) and the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell). We listened intently to the families of a group of eight prisoners who are undertaking a hunger strike. They gave us harrowing accounts of the physical condition that those prisoners are in. I should stress that none of them has been convicted of anything; they are all remand prisoners and are all awaiting trial. Some of them have been in prison for a very long time and have at least a year to go until their trial may or may not be heard.

I am very well aware of the sub judice nature of this matter, and I will not stray into issues of the trial itself or of their guilt or otherwise. My contribution solely concerns their conditions in prison and the operation of the prison rules—a matter that I have raised several times in the House.

[Mr Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) (Ind)]

Does the right hon. Member agree that remand is not punishment? It is not meant to break bodies or silence dissent, yet we are witnessing conditions so severe that these young people feel driven to risk death simply to be heard.

[Jeremy Corbyn]

My hon. Friend is right: there is a presumption of innocence, which is the basis of the British judicial system. We have prison rules that guarantee that prisoners are fairly treated and have access to medical services when they desperately need them. My concern is about what access those prisoners have had to medical support when they have desperately needed it.

Last week, I visited Amu Gib, a prisoner from my constituency. She is still in prison and is desperately in need of medical assistance. The right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington, the hon. Member for Brent West (Barry Gardiner) and I have just written to the prison governor as follows:

“We write to you jointly today with the utmost urgency requesting a meeting with yourself…to discuss the…delay in calling medical staff and ambulances when the prisoners are in clear distress and in increasing pain; inconsistent administration of essential daily nutrients, apparently due to a lack of supply…10 day delay in acknowledging the start of the hunger strike…non-association orders between prisoners; slow communication/no communication with the families.”

The families are obviously desperately concerned. That is why all I asked of the Secretary of State for Justice, and all I asked of the Prime Minister yesterday, was an undertaking that the Ministry of Justice will meet the legal representatives of those in prison in order that their conditions can be discussed and considered. So far that has been absolutely refused.

The media in general has not reported on this, despite the drama surrounding it and the importance of the issue. I urge Members to think for a moment about how desperate a situation someone must be in to have no alternative but to take hunger strike action to bring attention to it. I hope that the Government will hear this call.

When I raised this issue last week in business questions, the Leader of the House very kindly and efficiently passed on my request to the Ministry of Justice and copied me into the letter he sent. I thank him for that, but we still have not had a substantive reply from the Ministry of Justice. I hope that when it hears this debate, the Department will recognise that it has a responsibility for the welfare and medical condition of prisoners and for the way in which they are supported in every one of our prisons. That includes people who are taking protest action because of their very strong belief in what they are trying to achieve. When the Leader of the House replies to the debate, could he confirm that he will once again ask the Ministry of Justice to get involved and meet the legal representatives of the prisoners?

Gaza: Humanitarian Obligations

Debate between Jeremy Corbyn and Adnan Hussain

Monday 24th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Jeremy Corbyn]

By any measurement of humanity, the people of Gaza have suffered as grievously as anyone has ever suffered in any conflict in the world. More than 60,000 are already dead, with the rest living among rubble, starving and unable to get the basic needs of medical attention. That also affects children, as the right hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) pointed out.

We are looking at an utterly devastating situation, which the British Government have been told about many times. They resisted the calls for a ceasefire at the very beginning; we even had the now Prime Minister saying that it was a legitimate act of self-defence by Israel to deny food and water to people in Gaza. Both the Conservative and Labour Governments have a pretty bad record on this, and I would have thought that the very least we could do now is say that there can be absolutely no arms sales of any sort or any military co-operation with Israel.

The so-called ceasefire in the Trump plan basically ensures Israel’s continued occupation of substantial parts of Gaza. It does not say very much about the abominable behaviour of Israeli armed settlers on the west bank, who are destroying villages and killing people as we speak. Surely this House needs to send the strong message that we recognise the right of the Palestinian people to live in peace, as well as recognising the importance and primacy of international law—the hon. Member for Leeds East (Richard Burgon) made that point very strongly.

The hon. Member and I have visited the International Court of Justice at The Hague, and I sat through the entire hearing when South Africa made its application—a moving and fascinating experience. The case was made brilliantly by South Africa, which was condemned by Members on both sides of the House for even bringing the case of genocide against Israel. While it put its case, I was looking at the wonderful ceiling in the Peace Palace and thinking back to when all South Africa’s current leaders were called terrorists and denounced for undermining and upsetting the apartheid regime. They finished apartheid, and then they gave their support to the people of Palestine—well done, South Africa, for having the bravery to do that.

We need to understand the importance of international law. If we believe in international law, as this Parliament and Britain always claim—we helped to write the European convention on human rights and the United Nations universal declaration of human rights—we must stand by it and ensure that the Israeli Government are taken to task for their breaches of human rights around the world.

[Mr Adnan Hussain (Blackburn) (Ind)]

I reiterate the right hon. Gentleman’s words: we cannot speak of recovery without first seeking and speaking of justice and accountability. Does he agree that all alleged breaches of international law, including accusations of genocide, must be investigated; that those responsible must be held to account; and that the people of Gaza deserve not only immediate relief but a future built on justice? Does he agree that peace is impossible without justice?

[Jeremy Corbyn]

The hon. Gentleman is a lawyer himself and far better qualified than me on these matters. I absolutely agree that justice requires us to act, otherwise we undermine the whole principle of international law. The long arm of international law might even reach to us—yes, to Britain—because we knowingly supplied weapons. We did that knowing that a genocide was going on, which makes us complicit in that genocide.