‘They kidnapped the passengers and tore the Greek flag off the boat’
A BRITISH woman living in Episkopi spoke of her anguish last night as her partner remained locked up in an Israeli prison.
Ruth Baker told the Cyprus Mail that her long-term partner Denis Healey was being detained after captaining the latest Free Gaza Movement voyage to Gaza.
Healy is being held with 19 other peace activists and faces charges of illegally entering Israeli waters – despite numerous reports that the Israeli Navy forcibly boarded his Free Gaza Movement boat Spirit of Humanity in international waters and arrested all on board.
“All I know is that he is being held, he does not know what is happening or how long he and the others will be kept there.
“They were forcibly taken from international waters and I have now heard they will be charged with illegal entry, which is utter rubbish,” she said.
Baker said she had briefly managed to speak with Healy in a two-minute phone call arranged by British Embassy officials in Tel Aviv.
“He was tired; they had all had their bags and personal items, including clothes taken from them. I think they are baffled about what the Israelis are doing,” she added.
Greta Berlin from the Free Gaza Movement says the detention has provoked outrage amongst peace activists who are demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all captives.
“They kidnapped all on board, they tore the Greek flag off the boat then incarcerated them. To say we are angry would be an extreme understatement,” she told the Cyprus Mail.
The Free Gaza Movement contends their ship, which left Larnaca on Monday for Gaza, was carrying humanitarian aid and posed no threat to Israel.
Speaking from prison yesterday, former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who also remains locked up, outlined what had happened to the vessel.
“We were in international waters on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to people in Gaza when the Israeli Navy ships surrounded us and illegally threatened us, dismantled our navigation equipment, boarded and confiscated the ship,” she said.
McKinney, who was a Green Party nominee for US President, told of her frustration at being kept in detention without any assistance from the US government.
“All of us on board were then taken off the ship and into custody, and brought into Israel and imprisoned. State Department and White House officials have not affected our release or taken a strong public stance to condemn the illegal actions of the Israeli Navy,” she added.
Gaza has been under Israeli blockade since 2007, when Hamas gained control of the government.
The Free Gaza Movement has successfully challenged the Israeli blockade on six previous occasions, landing missions in Gaza in August, October and November last year.
The Free Gaza ships were the first to dock at Gaza’s port in over 41 years.
In 1988, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation staged an unsuccessful effort to sail from Cyprus to the Israeli port of Haifa.
The ship, named the Sol Phryne, was damaged in a mine attack in the Cypriot port of Limassol.
