The deportation of three foreign activists detained aboard the humanitarian flotilla Madleen has been postponed following Israeli attacks on Iran, according to Adalah, the Palestinian legal centre representing them.
Marco van Rennes (NL), Pascal Maurieras and Yanis Mhamdi (both French) remain in Givon prison as their scheduled deportation flights have been suddenly cancelled. Adalah noted that lawyers are trying to secure visitation rights, although access remains uncertain due to heightened military alert.
In early June, members of the Freedom Flotilla coalition on board the Madleen left the port of Sicily to reach the Gaza Strip. There were 12 people on board, including Swedish eco-activist Greta Thunberg. The activists said they wanted to deliver humanitarian aid to the enclave, including baby food and personal hygiene items, but on the night of June 9, the ship and all its passengers were detained by Israeli naval special forces.
French Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, who was on board the ship, wrote on social media that at 2 a.m., the crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army while the ship was in international waters.
Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz stated that the IDF would not allow “Greta Thunberg’s flotilla” to reach Gaza. Israel saw this as an attempt to violate the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and to assist Hamas.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of France Unbowed (LFI), supported the activists on X:
“The French government supports the detention in solitary confinement of French journalist Yannis Mhamdi from Blast! Macron and Barre refuse to request his transfer to French territory, i.e. to the French embassy, claiming that the prison is closer to the airport… and that’s it.
Journalist Yannis Mhamdi and computer engineer Pascal Maurieras are in Chévron prison, as is Dutch sailor Marco van Rennes.
France’s silence allows Netanyahu to trample on the status of journalists. Yannis cannot communicate with the outside world and has no access to a mobile phone or the internet.
All three members of the team are being held in inhumane conditions, with only one hour of light per day and serious skin infections due to bedbug infestation. Never has France been so humiliated as it is with Macron’s geopolitical wind.”
