HAIFA, (PIC)
The human rights and legal center Adalah has said that its legal defense team, with the participation of volunteer lawyers, provided legal consultations to hundreds of detained activists from the “Freedom Flotilla” and the “Global Sumud Flotilla” inside Ashdod Port, amid Israeli restrictions hindering access to all detainees.
In a recent statement, Adalah explained that the legal team documented testimonies of several activists who were subjected to severe violence, suffered injuries, and sexually abused during detention and transfer operations.
It noted that all detainees underwent preliminary screening procedures conducted by Israeli immigration authorities, while most of them were transferred to Ketziot prison.
Adalah added that the collected testimonies revealed systematic violations of legal procedures and the exposure of detainees to widespread physical and psychological assaults.
According to Adalah, the legal team received consistent accounts of excessive violence used by Israeli forces during the interception of the flotilla boats and the transfer of detainees, which resulted in serious injuries, including at least three activists being taken to the hospital before being sent back to detention.
The lawyers also documented dozens of cases in which detainees said that they suffered broken ribs and breathing difficulties, along with testimonies describing the repeated use of electric shock devices and rubber bullets during transfers to Israeli military boats.
Adalah said that detainees were subjected to humiliating treatment inside the port, as they were forced to walk fully bent forward while guards pushed them violently, and some were forced to kneel for long periods inside boats.
Adalah pointed out that the violations were not limited to physical violence but also included insults, incitement, and sexual harassment, as well as the forcible removal of hijabs (headscarves) from several female activists.
Adalah renewed its call for the immediate and unconditional release of all participants in the two flotillas, considering their detention “unlawful.”
In a related context, the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) has accused Israel of using the abduction of international activists participating in the Freedom Flotilla and the Global Sumud Flotilla as a “systematic policy aimed at intimidating voices supporting Palestine and curbing international solidarity with the Palestinians.”
“The Israeli occupation seeks through this policy to send a message that anyone who intends to show solidarity with the Palestinian people will face detention, abuse, arrest, and torture,” PPS said in a Wednesday statement.
PPS stressed that what happened to the detained activists was part of a long-standing policy practiced by the occupation regime against hundreds of international activists over the past years.
PPS affirmed that the scenes of torture and humiliation inflicted on the activists, in the presence of Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, mirrored the daily reality endured by Palestinian and Arab prisoners inside Israeli jails.