GAZA, (PIC)
The Gaza Center for Human Rights expressed its fears regarding the fate of ten of the participants and solidarity activists within the “Sumud Flotilla,” who remain under arbitrary detention inside Libyan territory for eight days, amid a complete cutoff of communication between them and their families, and a total absence of any reliable information about their health or legal conditions.
The center explained in a statement on Sunday that the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla 2 set off loaded with humanitarian and medical aid, and included more than 200 participants from multiple Maghreb and Arab nationalities, aiming to reach the besieged Gaza Strip by land through Libyan and Egyptian territories. On the evening of last Sunday, corresponding to May 24, security authorities affiliated with the forces of the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar arrested 10 of the flotilla participants as they crossed the western gate of the city of Sirte in eastern Libya, during their journey towards the Egyptian border.
It indicated that among the detainees are doctors, engineers, teachers, lawyers, and activists from several countries, detained because of their participation in a flotilla of a purely humanitarian and civil nature, stressing that solidarity with Gaza in the face of annihilation is not a crime, but rather a humanitarian act that must be supported and backed.
According to the flotilla organizers, all attempts to communicate with the detainees remain to no avail until this moment, and the flotilla leadership decided to suspend the march and position itself about 60 kilometers west of the Sirte gate out of concern for the safety of the remaining participants and to avoid any potential security escalation. Meanwhile, it was reported that the detainees were transferred to the city of Benghazi.
The human rights center expressed its concern over information that the detainees face difficult and dangerous incarceration conditions, in light of the absence of any clear or announced legal path for their release, expressing its regret over the arbitrary detention of the solidarity activists, after the arbitrary detention and abuse practiced by Israel against hundreds of other activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
It said that what increases the severity of anxiety is their continued disappearance even after the advent of the blessed Eid al-Adha, which cast its shadow on their families and those in solidarity with them, without the authorities of eastern Libya providing any clear legal explanation for the motives of the detention or humanitarian guarantees for the conditions of the detainees.
The Gaza Center for Human Rights demanded the Libyan authorities to provide a transparent legal explanation for the justifications of the detention, or their immediate release and respect for their right to personal liberty guaranteed under international human rights law.
It also demanded the disclosure of their places of detention and their health conditions, and enabling their families and legal representatives to visit them and communicate with them without delay, while guaranteeing their physical and psychological safety throughout the period of their detention, and full compliance with the standards for the treatment of detainees stipulated in international conventions.
The center called on Arab and international civil society and human rights organizations to intensify media and legal solidarity, highlight the issue of the detainees, and pressure to ensure their safety and urgent release.