Lawyers for 27 French nationals present on the ships of the new flotilla for the Gaza matrix this Wednesday, October 8, by the Israeli army, requested in a statement their immediate release.
“Twenty-seven French civilians who are on board these humanitarian convoys have been arbitrarily arrested by the occupying Israeli armed forces and, to date, illegally detained by the State of Israel,” said Nino Arnaud, Elsa Marcel, Adrien Mawas and Sarah Sameur.
The councils call for “the effective implementation of the consular and diplomatic protection owed to them by the French state”, the “immediate release” of these persons “arbitrarily owned by the Israeli state and their return to France”, and the “prosecution and punishment of unlawful actions committed by the state of Israel”.
“Risks of poor treatment”
These lawyers are concerned as “significant risks of poor treatment,” adding that activists are now shown to have been victims of threats, physical violence and humiliation, in the context of mock adversarial proceedings.”
“These serious offensives not only constitute violations of the peremptory rules of international humanitarian law and international maritime law, but also infringe the most basic fundamental rights of imprisoned civilians,” the press release added.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sumud Flatilla Global Coalition, which coordinates this initiative, announced this intercept on Wednesday morning.
Global Sumud Flotilla says the ships carried “$110,000 in aid in the form of medicines, respiratory equipment and nutritional products for Gaza hospitals that have fewer provisions.”
Several activists from a previous flotilla to Gaza, including Greta Thunberg, a Swede, were expelled by Israel on Monday after suffering poor treatment following the disposal of their convoy at sea by the Israeli Navy.
The goal of this flotilla was to break the blockade imposed by Israel on the war-torn Gaza Strip and provide humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory. It was made up of around fifty ships.
Source: BFM TV
