New information on imprisoned Poles. "Contact with them is difficult"

• Three Poles from the humanitarian flotilla to Gaza detained by Israel should return to the country in the coming days.

• Contact with detainees is difficult.

• The Israeli blockade of Gaza and the actions of the flotilla rise public interest and mobilise people to protest.

• More crucial information can be found on Interii main page

Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the MFA Radosław Sikorski announced on Sunday that the Consul of the Republic of Poland had seen Polish citizens detained by Israelparticipants Global Sumud Fleet.

He said Poles should return to the country in the coming days, despite refusing to leave voluntarily.

Three Poles detained are: MP KO Franciszek Sterczewski, president of the Polish Palestinian Social and Cultural Association Omar Faris and president of the Nomada Association Nina Bird.

They were around 470 people from 47 countries participating in the Global Sumud Fleet (GSF). The humanitarian convoy was intercepted on Wednesday night on Thursday in global waters by Israeli Navy. Stopped 42 vesselsand their crews were brought to Israel.

Rafał Piotrowski: We have no confirmation that the detainee was given access to lawyers

Piotrowski said that the Poles detained met with the consul. – They didn't sign the deportation papers, we can anticipate in the coming days their return to Poland – he added.

He reminded that a citizen was besides active in the Polish delegation United Kingdom Ewa Jasiewiczwho has already returned to Turkey. The Israeli MFA reported on Saturday that 137 GSF participants from respective countries of the planet were deported to this country.

Ombudsman Global Movement to Gaza Poland stated that he could not supply confirmed information on the situation of 3 imprisoned Poles and conditions under which they are held. According to erstwhile information, they are in Ktzi’ot prison in the south of Israel.

– Contact is difficult, we do not have direct communication, only by the consul. We have no confirmation that the detainees were given access to our lawyers," said Piotrowski.

He added that Nina Bird has been on hunger strike since the beginning of the incarceration within the framework of solidarity with Palestinian prisoners who are kept without conviction in the same prison and to protest their own detention. – According to our information Omar Faris was in mediocre physical condition – he noted.

– Basic consular care is not the reaction we would anticipate from the Polish authorities towards kidnapping of Polish citizens in global waters, in the face of a war crime committed on Polish citizens – Piotrowski stressed, erstwhile asked about the assessment of the actions of Polish authorities.

MFA representatives have repeatedly assured that Polish consular services keep contact with detainees. Sikorski besides called for Polish citizens to comply with MFA warnings And they didn't travel to dangerous parts of the world.

Global Movement spokesperson to Gaza Poland: We see more and more of us

GSF declares her goal was to break illegal Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip and carrying humanitarian aid there. A large-scale humanitarian crisis is taking place in Palestinian territory, including famine, caused by Israel's war against Palestine for nearly 2 years Hamas. no of the ships intercepted by Israel yet reached the coast Gaza Strip.

Piotrowski stressed that the initiative had succeeded, however, by drawing public attention to Palestine and mobilising people to protests, which was 1 of the convoy's objectives. - That's it. mobility, mobilisation for Palestine And this process is inactive going on.. We see that there are more and more of us, that we gain support, that the subject is slow breaking through to mainstream, that more and more people are not afraid to say that (what is happening in the Gaza Strip – red) is genocide, it is not afraid to name things directly," he said.

As he added, in defence of the flotilla took place protests in almost 20 Polish cities, the last of them on Sunday, including demonstration in Warsaw.

Gaza Strip. Israel’s naval blockade

Israel introduced Gaza maritime blockade in 2007, after Hamas took over the territory, justifying this security issues. The legality of this decision is the subject of dispute. Various NGOs have been organizing sea convoys for years to break the blockade.

Other groups, Freedom Flotilla Coalition and initiative Thousand Madleens to GazaThey run their own convoys to the Gaza Strip. More are now flowing into Palestinian territory 11 units.

Israeli authorities repeatedly They accused the fleet of serving Hamas' purposes. The MFA in Jerusalem besides reported that the papers found in the Gaza Strip confirm Hamas' commitment to financing GSF. The organization rejected these allegations.

According to the non-governmental organization Adalah, which deals with legal assistance for detainees, the rights of imprisoned activists have been " systematically violated". According to lawyers they were denied water, sanitation, medicines and immediate access to legal representatives. Cases of physical and verbal force have besides been reported.