CYPRUS, June 2: The Free Gaza Movement announced on Wednesday that the media reports saying that all civilian activists who were detained by the Israel since Monday had been released are not true.
“Our lawyers were denied access to the passengers until this afternoon. We hope to get a list of the injured and murdered tonight. Israel has been deporting people to their home countries. The Palestinians on board, however, are being charged criminally and we are trying to defend them,” Free Gaza Movement lawyer, Audrey Bomse, said to the Arab Times.
In a press release, the movement said that the UN Security Council called for impartial, credible investigation of the Israeli attack on our boats. In addition, the council requested the immediate release of the ships as well as the civilians held by Israel. The media is reporting that all are being released which is simply untrue.
Free Gaza Movement board director, Lubna Masarwa, Leader of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheik Raed Salah, Director of International Advocacy Programme for the Arab Association for Human Rights, Mohammed Zeidan, and Hamed Abu Dabis are facing multiple serious criminal offences for their participation in a peaceful voyage to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

After a full day in court represented by excellent attorneys from Adalah, they were remanded until June 8, evidence of how seriously the situation is for these four human rights workers.
“This illegal incarceration is just another example of Israel’s draconian policies. First, they boarded our ships, traveling in international waters and loaded with supplies to Gaza. They murdered at least nine of our passengers, wounded dozens more, then hijacked our boats and forced them into the port of Ashdod. They threw over 600 passengers into detention. None of these passengers had any intention of going to Israel but were dragged into the country under force and then deported,” Audrey said.
“Now they have thrown four well-known human rights, religious and political leaders into prison for expressing support for their beleaguered brothers and sisters in Gaza,” she concluded.