Footballer Mahmoud Sarsak continues his European tour to highlight the plight of Palestine in London tonight (17 June 2013) with a public meeting and discussion at the School of African and Oriental Studies.

The discussion will include Fare Executive Director Piara Powar and speakers from Philosophy Football and the student-led Football Without Borders project.

Sarsak grew up dreaming of emulating childhood idols such as Alessandro Del Piero, Frank Lampard and most of all Zinedine Zidane, and by the age of 21 his talents saw him play regularly for his country's Olympic side and twice for the full team, against China and Iraq.

At the age of 22 he was offered the opportunity to play with the Merkaz Balata football club in the West Bank Premier League. In July 2009, on his way to a national contest, Sarsak was arrested at the border checkpoint between Gaza and the West Bank as an unlawful combatant.

“It was a dream and I was so excited because playing for the Balata football club means playing for a stronger league because of the facilities in the West Bank” he says.

Sarsak was taken to Ashkelon prison and interrogated, however he said that after 45 days of psychological and physical torture the Israelis could not charge him of anything he was accused of. However the Israeli’s used a system of administrative detention in order to imprison Sarsak without trial, despite having no evidence that he was active in Islamic Jihad, a claim he denied.

Thus began three years detention without formal charge or trial, during which, he says, he was a regular victim of physical and mental torture, unable to see his family.

When Zakaria Issa, another imprisoned Palestinian international player, was diagnosed with terminal cancer and died just months after his release, that Sarsak took matters into his own hands. He went on hunger strike, and 97 days later, he was free.

Sarsak, now 25, hopes to return to the ranks of the Palestinian national team one day, but his body is still recovering from the withering effects of his hunger strike, and for now he feels his country would be better served by him learning English and raising awareness of the Israeli government’s apparent persecution of Palestinian footballers.

Read a CNN interview with Mahmoud Sarsak and the issues raised by the UEFA under-21 tournament held in Israel this summer.

Read the Mahmoud Sarsak 2013 UK tour support group interview.