An Israeli court extended the detention of flotilla activists Thiago Ávila and Saif Abu Keshek as campaigners revealed Ávila’s mother died while he remained held in isolation [Getty]
An Israeli court has upheld the continued detention of Global Sumud Flotilla activists Thiago Avila and Saif Abu Keshek, despite legal challenges arguing their arrest in international waters was unlawful, as campaigners revealed Avila’s mother died while he remained held in isolation.
The Beer Sheva District Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal filed by the legal rights group Adalah against the activists’ continued detention, leaving both men in custody until at least 10 May.
Adalah said the ruling was “unlawful and unreasonable”, arguing that Israeli forces had no legal authority to arrest the pair after intercepting an Italian-flagged vessel in international waters last week.
Lawyers for the group said the operation amounted to an abduction and violated the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that only the flag state has authority to detain or investigate a vessel on the high seas.
“The operation is a clear violation of international law,” Adalah said in a statement, adding that the Italian government had also condemned the interception as illegal.
The court reportedly relied on secret evidence that defence lawyers were unable to review or challenge.
According to Adalah, interrogations carried out by Israel’s Shin Bet intelligence agency and police have focused largely on the flotilla campaign itself, despite organisers insisting their mission was humanitarian and aimed at challenging Israel’s blockade on Gaza.
The activists have been on hunger strike for nearly a week since being detained by the Israeli navy, with Abu Keshek now also refusing water, Adalah said.
The organisation added that both men remain in solitary confinement under what it described as punitive conditions.
The court ruling came as the Global Sumud Flotilla announced that Avila’s mother, Teresa Regina de Avila e Silva, died in Brazil on Tuesday while her son remained imprisoned.
In a statement, the group accused Israel of “unfathomable cruelty”, saying the Brazilian activist had been denied the chance to say goodbye to his mother or even learn of her death due to his isolation from the outside world.
“Thiago was forcibly absent, denied even the chance to hear her voice one last time,” the flotilla coalition said.
The group said Avila remains unaware that his mother has died and warned that the news may ultimately be delivered to him by Israeli soldiers overseeing his detention.
The coalition linked his case to what it described as a broader pattern experienced by Palestinian detainees and their families over decades of Israeli imprisonment policies.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has condemned Avila’s detention as “unjustifiable”, according to the flotilla organisers, who renewed calls for the immediate release of both activists and an international investigation into the interception operation.
Adalah said it would continue representing the pair before Israeli authorities and challenging their detention.