The last five members of the second flotilla held by Israel, in addition to the Mallorcan activist, landed at 8:19 a.m. this Monday at the Barajas airport in Madrid on a commercial plane from the Iberia company, which left at dawn from the capital of Qatar, Doha.
Specifically, the last five members of the Freedom Flotilla, the second flotilla to Gaza, which was intercepted by the Israeli authorities last week, have returned to Spain. On Saturday, three other Spanish activists who had been held in Israel landed in Madrid, including .
The Mallorcan activist Reyes Rigo has also returned to our country, who was the only Spanish member of the Global Sumud Flotilla – the first flotilla – who was still in Israeli custody after her arrest on October 1.
This new return operation to Spain, like the previous ones, has been managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from its central services, the Spanish Embassy, and by the consul in Tel Aviv, “who have done an extraordinary job,” sources from Foreign Affairs have reported.
In this way, there are no longer any Spaniards from the flotilla held in Israel, after in the last two weeks a total of 57 citizens have returned to Spain – 49 in the Global Sumud Flotilla, 8 in the Freedom Flotilla – after being detained in the Ktziot prison, located in the Negev desert.
The last six Spaniards, who have arrived at terminal 4S of the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport from Qatar, have been imprisoned until now “for not wanting to sign the voluntary deportation,” sources from the Flotilla Heading to Gaza assure Europa Press.
Agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office
Reyes Rigo has finally arrived in Spain after reaching an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office to reduce the charges of which he was accused.
According to the councilor for Unidas Podemos in Palma City Council, Lucía Muñoz, who also participated in the flotilla, the Spanish consul informed Rigo’s family that during a hearing held this Friday that agreement had been reached with the Prosecutor’s Office and a fine had been imposed on the activist.
A court in Beer Sheva accepted the agreement after Rigo pleaded guilty to causing bodily harm and aggravated assault on a prison guard where she was held.
Initially, they filed charges against her for allegedly biting a guard’s hand and refusing to enter her cell, but that accusation was later rectified, alleging that what she had done was dig her nails into the officer while she resisted.
Under the agreement, the court finally sentenced her to ten days in prison – which she had already served – as well as to pay a fine of 10,000 shekels (about 2,650 euros) and ordered her deportation.
During his appearance before the judge, Rigo reported having received ill-treatment in custody. “They hit us, they pushed us and on the fifth day they attacked my friend and I tried to protect her,” she said, always according to the Israeli newspaper. “They grabbed me by the head and my glasses fell off,” she added, detailing that she was with thirteen other women in a cell with capacity for five, they were not given water and they received “rotten” food.
