Activists threatened and beaten, claim returnees

DUBLIN PRESS CONFERENCE:ACTIVISTS REMOVED from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla were viciously beaten and threatened with execution during their detention in Israel, an Irish member of the convoy claimed yesterday.

Fiachra O’Luain, who travelled on board the Challenger 1, said he witnessed members of the Israeli military punching and stamping on detainees. He alleged he was kicked and beaten while held at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv and that his life was threatened.

At a press conference in Dublin yesterday, Mr O’Luain (28) said he saw Irish passport-holder Ken O’Keefe have his “head split open with a baton” during a scuffle between soldiers and detainees. “On one person there may have been up to 10 or more ,” he said. “They beat the shit out of everybody.”

Fintan Lane of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who was also onboard the Challenger 1, said “extreme violence” was used by the Israeli commandos.

“It was a violent attack in the sense it appeared they would use whatever violence they felt necessary to take control of the flotilla.” Mr Lane said he was treated well while waiting to leave Ben Gurion airport but there was a “strong sense of violence”.

He also said he was concerned his passport had been compromised by the Israelis during his detention given Irish documents were used by suspects in the murder of Mahmoud al Mabhouh in Dubai earlier this year.

Separately, members of the Irish Anti-War Movement blockaded the Israeli embassy in Dublin yesterday. Richard Boyd Barrett, chair of the movement, said they had undertaken the protest to highlight the “continued inhuman blockade” of Gaza.

Mr Boyd Barrett said no security staff or officials arrived at the embassy during office hours. He said the protest may resume if the passage of the Rachel Corrie to Gaza was interfered with. Calls to the embassy and press office were not answered yesterday.

Meanwhile, Catholic Primate Cardinal Seán Brady has called for Israel’s blockade on Gaza to be lifted. He described the loss of life when the flotilla was stormed as “reprehensible”.