Flotilla, Rome Public Prosecutor's Office investigates for kidnapping

Tony La Piccirella, one of the Italian activists held incommunicado on the cargo ship that transported them to Greece, returned to Italia. His flight landed at lunchtime at Fiumicino airport. 'We are continuing: we are regrouping,' he assured, 'We will continue until our governments find their backbone and put an end to all the agreements we have with Israel, in order to serve the interests of the Palestinian people, of the Italian people and of all peoples who want to live in peace, solidarity and justice.

In the meantime, Angelo Bonelli, AVS deputy and Green Europe co-spokesperson, proposed a 'collective denunciation of all Italian parliamentarians . Meloni should stop covering for Netanyahu,' he attacked, 'and demonstrate in deeds the discontinuity she proclaims in words. Pd deputy Arturo Scotto, on the other hand, spoke of 'an unprecedented harassment of activists who took part in a humanitarian mission'.

Activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla for Gaza intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters disembarked in the south-east of the island of Crete. Escorted by the Greek coast guard 173 activists boarded four buses on their way to a destination unspecified by the authorities. But missing from the roll call were two of them, namely Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila, who were taken to Israel for questioning. Israel suspects them of 'suspicious activities'. The Global Samud Flotilla asked the Italia government to condemn the incident and legal assistance to release the activists.

In a note, the Israeli Foreign Ministry explained that "Saif Abu Keshek, a leading member of the Pcpa (an organisation designated and sanctioned by the US as a front for Hamas), and Thiago Ávila, who works with the Pcpa and is suspected of legal activities, have arrived in Israel. They will be transferred for interrogation by the police authorities. Both will receive a consular visit from the representatives of their respective countries in Israel'.

But it is the lawyers of Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek who denounce "physical violence and prolonged detention in forced positions by Israeli military forces during the two days they spent at sea". They reported this just after a visit to Shikma prison in a statement released by the Global Sumud Flotilla. Thiago and Saif, who are due to appear in court on Sunday morning for a hearing to extend their detention, said they were on hunger strike.

Greta Thunberg also joined the call for release in a video on her Instagram profile. Israel "must immediately release" Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek, the two Global Sumud Flotilla activists detained and brought to the country for interrogation, she argued. "It has been confirmed that they were tortured," she added, recalling that the former is a Brazilian citizen and the latter a Palestinian "with Swedish and Spanish citizenship" and claiming that they were "detained on the basis of false accusations". Thunberg also called for 'immediate' intervention in their support by the governments of Spain and Sweden. "The other day Israel illegally intercepted more than 20 civilian boats," Thunberg also denounced, claiming that some of the detained activists, later almost all of whom disembarked in Crete, "were beaten so badly that they had to be taken to hospital afterwards

"Thiago Avila and Saif Abukeshek were kidnapped while sailing on Italian-flagged vessels. The political and legal responsibility lies with our government. We demand that the Italian government work for the immediate release of the activists and all Palestinian political prisoners'. This is the demand of the Italian delegation of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which has been holding a presidium in front of the Farnesina open to all citizens since the morning of Saturday 2 May, to urge also the breaking of relations with Israel, sanctions and the embargo.

A press conference was held late in the morning, attended by Maria Elena Delia, spokesperson for Global Sumud Italia. Among other things, they spoke about the urgent complaint filed by the legal team with the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office and the legal actions taken at national and international level, the situation in Crete, the conditions of the hospitalised participants, and updates on repatriation.

"The Flotilla is restarting. We will use these days to sort everything out and put the boats back in place. We have comrades from Greece, Italia, Spain, Holland and all over Europe who have mobilised to come here'. This was stated by Luca, an activist in connection from Greece, during the press conference of the Italian delegation of the Global Sumud Flotilla in front of the Farnesina. 'We have taken all the precautions we had to take, we are in contact with the authorities,' he added. 'We will leave again and we will be even more than when we left Sicily. If before we had a million reasons to go to Gaza, now we have one more,' he said.

Avila and Abukeshek, Delia stressed at the press conference, 'were on board a talian boat. This means, by the law of the sea, that they were illegally taken from Rome. The boats were 20 miles from Crete, in international waters but under Greek jurisdiction. This is serious not for the activists but for Europe'. "We demand that they be freed: it is a legal issue," he added. "If they are allowed to be kidnapped in international waters from a boat flying the Italian flag, it is a further escalation of a systematic and unpunished violation of international law. We call on everyone to act and mobilise, to create permanent garrisons. Thiago and Saif represent the 10,000 Palestinian prisoners. We call for action to free all of them and for vigilance to demand that justice be done".

The legal team of the Global Sumud Flotilla filed an urgent appeal at the European Court of Human Rights against the Italian state in the interest of Saif Abukeshek Abdelrahim and Thiago de Avila. The appeal highlights the 'responsibility' of Italia as the flag state of the ship 'Eros 1' on which the two activists were on at the time of their 'interception'. "According to the established case law of the Strasbourg Court and the international law of the sea," they write, "Italia exercised jurisdiction over those on board and was therefore obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent foreseeable violations of fundamental rights. No effective measure of protection was adopted nor was any action taken to prevent or stop the violation in progress' despite the fact that the 'Italian authorities had been promptly informed of the concrete and imminent risk to the life and physical integrity of the activists'. By means of the urgent procedure provided for in Article 39 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), the Italian authorities are asked to "ascertain the place of detention of the two activists", guarantee their "physical and psychological integrity", ensure "access to the defence" and "prevent further transfers or forms of isolation".

"They boarded our boats with guns blazing, they were more aggressive than last time. I was on the last boat intercepted: they broke sails, engine and diverted it to the military cargo ship where they forced us on board. We were 181'. Thus the account of Tony La Piccirella, one of the Italian activists arrested the other night in the boarding of the Global Sumud Flotilla boats off Crete, reported to the Ansa agency. "After a few hours I and five other activists were put in solitary confinement," he adds, "I was in a completely closed container, like a cell. I stayed there for about thirty hours. There were only two tatami mats on the floor. The other 175 comrades were in the lobby where water came in and there were no blankets. Twenty-one activists, including women, were beaten. Three were seriously injured and one of them is still in hospital'. Then the activist pointed out that the disembarkation operations took place 'under the observation of the Greek coast guard'. "Even in those stages there were beatings because we tried to stay until Thiago and Saif were freed". For La Piccirella, 'what happened is a step beyond. It is no longer a 100-mile naval blockade,' he says, 'but has extended to the entire Mediterranean. It is a concrete demonstration that if law dies in Palestine it dies everywhere'.

Spain's Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, said in an interview with Catalunya Ràdio that Israel's detention of the Spanish Global Sumud Flotilla activist, Saif Abu Keshek, is 'illegal'. "I want to be very clear: we are dealing with an illegal detention that took place in international waters, outside the jurisdiction of the Israeli authorities," he said.