Timbha Mqhubeli is currently incarcerated in
Harmondsworth Detention Centre and has been on hunger
strike since the 2nd June, much longer than anyone else. He is very weak. A nurse has taken blood tests but he has not
seen a doctor even though he has requested to see one.
No one who knows has confidence in the companies running the
detention centres in coping with everyday medical
problems, let alone a hunger strike.

Many detainees complain of the lack of professional medical care in detention. Most medical problems are treated as
attention seeking and people are given Paracetamol for
every complaint from eczema to severe bruising and
swelling resulting from beatings by escorts on
removal. Detention centre staff appear to be
overworked and under stress much of the time and there
is a shroud of secrecy over what goes on behind the
scenes in detention.

Timbha is a very disciplined and principled man and has played down the severity of his condition on hunger strike. I am very worried about him and shall continue to visit him every day whilst that is possible.