Under President Barack Obama, authorities force-fed the hunger strikers, pumping them full of supplements. Whatever the rights and wrongs of this, at least it has kept Ahmed alive. However, in a telephone call with his lawyer at international human rights organization Reprieve, Ahmed has explained how, on Sept. 20, the Trump administration enacted a new policy of not force-feeding hunger strikers. Ahmed and other peaceful strikers would essentially be pushed as close to death as possible in order to try and force them to end the hunger strike, even if it means their organs fail or they die. Ahmed reports that the military are withholding medical care as well.

Perhaps President Trump will tweet that Ahmed brings this on himself: that he went on hunger strike, and if he wants to die, let him. But one might as well say that the Civil Rights protesters deserved to be beaten by the police because they failed to respect the arbitrary laws of the time. Ahmed is a devout Muslim, and it would run counter to his faith to take his own life. He does not want death, merely justice — and it reflects his understandable desperation for justice that he should have persisted for so long.