LONDON: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has accused Israeli personnel of torturing her and other detainees after being arrested aboard an aid flotilla heading for Gaza.
Thunberg said she was “hit, kicked, starved and tortured” in custody, and guards took selfies with her and defaced her property with lewd graffiti.
She was arrested earlier this month in international waters as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla trying to bring aid into Gaza.
The 22-year-old said she and others were taken to a “dystopian” detention area, telling Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet: “I saw maybe 50 people sitting in a row on their knees with handcuffs and their foreheads against the ground.”
She added: “They dragged me to the opposite side from where the others were sitting, and I had the (Israeli) flag around me the whole time. They hit and kicked me.”
Thunberg said the guards had “no empathy or humanity” toward the detainees, and she had to “beg” for water while being kept in conditions of 40 degrees Celsius.
“There’s a lot I don’t remember. So much is happening at once. You’re in shock, you’re in pain, but you go into a state of trying to stay calm,” she said.
“When people fainted, we banged on the cages and asked for a doctor. Then the guards came and said: ‘We’re going to gas you.’ It was standard for them to say that. They held up a gas cylinder and threatened to press it against us.
“During the nights, guards regularly came by and shook the bars, shining flashlights, and several times a night they came in and forced everyone to stand up.”
Thunberg was detained after the flotilla was halted on Oct. 2, and she was deported on Oct. 6. The flotilla was intercepted in what its organizers said was an “illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians in international waters” after refusing to change course when ordered to by the Israeli military.
