Event details
On Tuesday the of June, Dr Walaa Quisay (University of Manchester) led a session onthe debates surrounding the permissibility of hunger strikes in Islamentitled Carceral Fiqh and the Battle of the Empty Stomach. Dr Quisay explored the differing views regarding hunger strikes from a legal perspective, and supplemented this discussion with her research material ascertained through interviews with a number of prominent scholars and activists. She noted that prisons have often been weaponised as a political tool in the Middle East to silence dissent, and hunger strikes have emerged as a weapon of choice to counteract this phenomenon. She also discussed the genealogy of hunger strikes and debates within Islamic discourses surrounding their lawfulness due to the practice having originated within non-Muslim traditions and civilisations. The session concluded with a lively Q&A with the audience.
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