On Thursday, June 12, news broke that the remaining eight activists from the Freedom Flotilla who were detained Monday, June 9, were being deported back to their home countries. Their deportation took place after reports emerged that two activists had been placed in solitary confinement and started hunger strikes.
The “Madleen”, the vessel that the activists were sailing on, is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), and had departed from southern Italy towards Gaza June 1, carrying humanitarian aid and 12 international human rights defenders in an attempt to break Israel’s illegal blockade on the war-torn enclave.
Although it had not entered “Israeli territorial waters”, the civilian aid ship was illegally assaulted and seized by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) early Monday before being forcibly taken to Ashdod Port.
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) reported Tuesday, June 10, that Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila began a hunger and water strike at 4 am on Monday, June 9, shortly after being abducted by Israel the same day, along with all the volunteers aboard the Gaza-bound vessel.
Illegal deportation or unlawful detention
The FFC lost contact with its crew onboard the “Madleen” for about 24 hours, and was later informed by Adalah that four of them were deported after being obligated to sign a document consenting to the deportation. The first deported activists include Greta Thunberg from Sweden, Sergio Toribio from Spain, and Omar Faiad and Baptiste Andre from France.
Because the eight others refused to sign the document, they were kept in detention and brought before a tribunal on Tuesday. They faced the charge of “entering Israel illegally”, despite the fact that they were abducted from international waters and taken to the territories occupied by Israel against their will.
Israel also imposed a 100-year entry ban on each of the 12 activists.
Israel violently represses the detained activists
Upon his release, Al Jazeera journalist Faiad testified that French member of the European Parliament (MEP), Rima Hassan, was threatened with violence by Israeli officers if she did not sign the deportation papers.
“I’ll smash your head against the wall if you don’t sign. We’ll handle this our own way,” Faiad quoted one of the Israeli officers threatening Hassan, whose paternal grandparents are Palestinians who were forcibly displaced by Israel from Palestine in 1948.
Palestinian writer and scholar, Mosab Abu Toha, commented on Hassan’s refusal to be deported in a post on X:
“It is illegal to expel someone who has literally returned to their homeland.
“Rima Hassan’s grandparents were expelled from al-Birwa village near Acre in 1948. She herself was born in a refugee camp,” Abu Toha said.
Hassan was not the only member of the “Madleen’s” crew to experience violence by the Israeli authorities. Adalah reported that Ávila was beaten and denied access to a lawyer for over 24 hours during his imprisonment.
Ávila and Hassan punished with solitary confinement
On Wednesday, June 11, Israel escalated its punitive measures against Ávila and Hassan by placing them in solitary confinement cells, after transferring them to separate detention facilities away from their six other companions who languish in Givon prison in Ramla.
Ávila was transferred to Ayalon Prison because of his ongoing hunger and water strike. Meanwhile, Hassan was moved to Neve Tirza Prison after she wrote “Free Palestine” on a wall in Givon Prison. The young French-Palestinian activist was placed in a small windowless cell in Neve Tirza, with extremely unsanitary conditions. She was also prevented from accessing the prison yard.
In the late hours of Wednesday, June 11, FFC stated that they were informed that Rima Hassan was moved from solitary back to Givon prison, while Thiago remained in solitary confinement.
Activists returning home
On June 12, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced in a post that six of the remaining eight activists were being deported and sent to their home countries including, Rima Hassan, Dutch activist Mark van Rennes, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Thiago Avila from Brazil, and Reva Viard from France.
Their deportation follows announcements of diplomatic intervention by the activists’ home countries to achieve the activists release. French Foreign Minister, Jean-Noël Barrot, announced late Wednesday that Israel would expel the four French activists in captivity by the end of the week. The French nationals include Pascal Maurieras, Reva Viard, Yanis Mhamdi and Rima Hassan.
Meanwhile, Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu quoted Turkish diplomatic sources saying that Turkish activist Suayb Ordu is expected to be released on Thursday.
