Greta Thunberg alleges torture in Israeli detention after Gaza flotilla arrest
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish activist Greta Thunberg claimed on Tuesday that she and other detainees in the Gaza flotilla were tortured in the Israeli prison where they were held.
Thunberg said at a press conference in Stockholm that she and others were “kidnapped and tortured” by the Israeli army.
He declined to elaborate, adding when pressed that he was not getting clean water and other detainees were being deprived of critical medicines.
“I don’t want to share what I’ve personally been exposed to because I don’t want it to make headlines and ‘Greta was tortured’ because that’s not the story here.” he said, adding that what they were exposed to pales in comparison to what people in Gaza experience every day.
Israel’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but has repeatedly denied mistreatment of detainees.
“All detainees… were given access to water, food and toilets; they were not denied access to legal advice and all their legal rights were fully supported,” a foreign ministry spokesman told Reuters last week.
Thunberg was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group of ships trying to reach Gaza to carry relief supplies and draw attention to the plight of the region, where most of the 2.2 million residents have been driven from their homes and where the United Nations says hunger is widespread.
Thunberg, along with 478 others in the flotilla, was detained and deported from Israel on Monday.
Israel said reports of starvation in Gaza were exaggerated and described the flotilla as a publicity stunt benefiting the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The company had previously detained Thunberg at sea in June in a similar attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Swedish activists said Saturday that Thunberg was pushed and forced to wear an Israeli flag while in custody, but Thunberg made no mention of it at Tuesday’s press conference.
Thunberg and other participants also complained that the Swedish government did not provide them with sufficient assistance during their detention.
The government said Tuesday that it had repeatedly recommended against travel to Gaza but still provided consular support to activists and stressed to Israel the importance of treating Swedish citizens well.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, Ilze Filks and Tom Little in Stockholm; Additional reporting by Pesha Magid in Jersualem; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
