Wednesday August 8, 2018 (Update at 21:15 CET)
All of the remaining participants who were hijacked and illegally detained by Israeli Occupation Forces after they attacked the Swedish sailing vessel Freedom (part of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza), in international waters, sailing under a Swedish flag have now been deported from Israel and have arrived to safety.
British journalist Richard Sudan arrived last night in London (video), following his colleague Ian Diez Young, who arrived two days earlier (video). Read Richard’s report published by Russia Today here.
French sailor Pascal Maurieras arrived in Paris this morning (video), as did Canadian captain John Turnbull. Spanish sailor Franscisco Canales arrived in Madrid and was greeted by crews from five different TV stations (photos).
Swedish participants My Leffler (video), Ferry Sarpooshan (video) and Ellen Hansson (video in English) all arrived at Stockholm this afternoon and Carl Robert Stagier and Tobbe Larsson arrived a few hours later (photo of supporters waiting and then them together after arrival).
German-Swedish participant Anna Dressler was deported to Berlin last night, and reported:
I got threatened with force three times, isolated, handcuffed twice, and with force moved from my cell and towards the airport. I got illegally deported to Germany without access to ANY of my legal rights for 2,5 days: no contact with lawyer, embassy, no trial, no documentation, no information to the German authorities.
Israel are creating their own laws right now. Even if I have a lawyer, an embassy and a strong passport, all of my rights were ignored and the procedure was highly illegal. I contacted my embassy with the help of local police in Berlin and they are shocked. Can you then imagine how few rights Palestinians gets and how powerless THEY are?
This is not over yet. I don’t know what has happened to the rest of my crew and I hope everyone is alright. We will continue to fight for freedom, and the legal(REAL) process will go on with our organization, lawyers and embassies. I am right now on a 18h bus ride from Berlin to Sweden with no phone, I will deliver a more detailed report tomorrow when I have access to phone/computer. Speak up!
Please follow further news of arrivals, including videos, on the social media pages of Ship to Gaza Sweden and Freedom Flotilla Coalition , as well as on the FFC Participants page. We will endeavour to update this page with more photos, videos and links as they are sent in of participants arriving home safely.
* – They are heroes as per the award of the:
Jewish Voice for Peace – Health Advisory Council #WeeklyHumanRightsHero and Violation for week of August 6th, 2018
https://twitter.com/AliceRothchild/status/1026557560688652288
