Four of the 12 activists traveling on the boat to Gaza – Swedish Greta Thunberg, two French citizens and one Spaniard – returned to their countries after accepting expulsion
The Israeli NGO of Human Rights Defense Adalah, which assists the pro-Palestinos activists detained by in their boat to the destined for, said on Wednesday (11) that two of them, Brazilian Thiago Ávila and the French MEF Rima Hassan, were placed in solitary confinement. “The Israeli authorities transferred two (from the activists)-the Brazilian and the model Franco-Palestina Rima Hassan-for separate arrests (…) and put them in solitary confinement,” the NGO said in a statement.
An Israeli court upheld, on Tuesday night (10), the detention orders of the eight pro-Palestinos activists detained after being intercepted in his boat to Gaza, until the next hearing, scheduled for July 8, reported in a statement to Adalah.
However, the NGO notes that activists could be returned to their homeland this week, as Israeli law stipulates a detention period of 72 hours before those who entered illegally in the country can be forcibly deported.
Four of the 12 activists traveling on the boat to Gaza-Swedish Greta Thunberg, two French and one Spaniard citizens-returned to their countries after accepting Israel’s expulsion on Tuesday. The eight militants still detained, including Ávila and the MEF Rima Hassan, refused to sign a document authorizing their expulsion, denying that they entered illegally into Israeli territory, according to the NGO.
During a judicial hearing, Adalah contested “the law applied by the court (which refers) to illegal entry into Israel,” arguing that it does not apply to the situation of activists, who claimed to have been detained in international waters.
The “Madleen” sailboat came from Italy on June 1 to deliver a small amount of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, plunged into a catastrophic humanitarian situation after more than a year and a half of war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The Israeli Navy intercepted the boat on Monday morning, about 185 km west of the coast of Gaza.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Nátaly Tenório
