Famous hunger strikers

• Marion Wallace-Dunlop - the first suffragette to go on hunger strike in 1909. She was released from Holloway prison after 91 hours of fasting
• Mahatma Gandhi - the modern-day pioneer of civil disobedience went on several hunger strikes and fasts to protest against British rule in India
• Cesar Chavez - Mexican American union leader who helped improve wages for farm workers. He staged several fasts, the first of which was for 25 days in 1968
• Bobby Sands - the first of 10 republicans to die in the Maze prison in Northern Ireland in 1981. They were seeking the reinstatement of political prisoner status
• Mia Farrow - the actress and activist began a hunger strike to protest against the conflict in Darfur in 2009