Adalah Update:
Adalah attorneys, together with a team of volunteer lawyers, have just left Ashdod Port (Wednesday evening 20 May) after providing legal consultation to hundreds of unlawfully detained flotilla participants. Due to the severe access restrictions, the lawyers were not able to see all of the detained participants. Adalah can confirm that all of those detained have now passed through the Israeli immigration initial processing stage and almost all are being transferred to Ktziot prison. The legal team reports systemic violations of due process, and widespread physical and psychological abuse by Israeli authorities against the activists.
Our team received a large number of complaints of extreme violence, revealing a new pattern of physical abuse deliberately used by Israeli authorities. This violence resulted in severe, widespread injuries, including at least three individuals who were hospitalized and subsequently released. The lawyers documented dozens of participants with suspected broken ribs and resulting difficulty in breathing. Reports also indicated the frequent use of Tasers against participants, as well as injuries sustained from the use of rubber bullets during the interception of the flotilla boats and on the military boat to which they were transferred. The detained activists were subjected to extreme violence both on the vessels and during the transfer time between the boats and the port. Furthermore, authorities forced the activists into stress positions; while being moved around the port, they were forced to walk bent completely forward while guards violently held their backs down. Participants were also forced to sit onto their knees inside the boat for prolonged periods of time.
In addition to this physical abuse, the participants were subjected to severe degradation and sexual harassment and humiliation. Further, several women participants had their hijabs ripped off by Israeli authorities.
Adalah continues to monitor the situation closely. The participants will be brought tomorrow to appear before a tribunal pending their deportation. Adalah will demand to be present at these hearings to provide them with legal representation. Adalah persists in our demand for the immediate, unconditional release of all flotilla participants,currently held unlawfully.
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