LONDON: An Israeli court ruled to keep in detention eight pro-Palestine activists who were arrested this week by the Israeli navy aboard the Madleen ship, which was bound for Gaza.
The British-flagged vessel, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had 11 activists and a journalist on board, including the Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, who was carrying aid for Palestinians in Gaza as an act of solidarity amid the Israeli attacks.
Israel released Thunberg on Tuesday following pressure from European governments. However, eight activists from Turkiye, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Brazil remain in the Ramla detention center, according to the Wafa news agency and lawyers from the Haifa-based Adalah legal center.
On Wednesday, an Israeli court rejected the appeals made by Adalah’s lawyers to release the eight activists and ruled to keep them in custody.
The activists are Suayb Ordu from Turkiye; Mark van Rins from the Netherlands; Pascal Moreras, Riva Fiard, member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yanis Mohammadi, all from France; Tiago Ovila from Brazil; and Yasmin Ajar from Germany.
Adalah said that the Israeli court based its decision to continue the detention on the grounds of their “illegal entry into Israel.” The legal center emphasized that none of the Madleen’s activists intended to enter Israel or its territorial waters as they planned to depart from Sicily and reach Gaza’s territorial waters, which are part of the state of Palestine, via international waters.
The Israeli navy intercepted the Madleen ship early on Tuesday morning, detaining the activists and taking them to Israel.
Adalah said that the court has scheduled a detention review hearing for July 8 if authorities have not deported the activists by that date.
Following her release and deportation from Israel on Tuesday, Thunberg said: “I was very clear in my testimony that we were kidnapped on international waters and brought against our own will into Israel.”
“This is yet another intentional violation of rights that is added to the list of countless other violations that Israel is committing,” she said.
