ISTANBUL

Australian activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla that was attacked by Israel have been subjected to sleep deprivation while being "kicked and slapped" by the Israeli forces during their time in prison, according to a report by public broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Tuesday.

The seven activists have been deported to Jordan after Canberra raised the issue with Tel Aviv following serious mistreatment complaints from the detained activists to Australian diplomatic officials, it said.

The conditions included physical beatings in a "dystopian" prison environment, the report said, citing five redacted reports of Australian diplomatic staff who met the activists.

The staff reports include accounts of some activists being kicked and slapped by prison guards, subjected to "sleep deprivation" techniques, and having their medications confiscated.

Other activists said they were humiliated, though not physically abused, with one of them being told to "dance like a monkey."

The men also said they were placed in a "large cage" and yelled at by an Israeli government minister, who called them "terrorists."

After being taken to the Israeli jail, one of the activists, believed to be Surya McEwen, said "he was treated much more roughly and forcefully, including being slapped, having his arm dislocated, and having his head slammed into the ground," the report said.

The report quoted him as saying "that he was placed in a large cage with 80 other people for many hours while Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited and yelled abuses at them" last Thursday night.

The report said "Israeli soldiers tore up pages of his passport in front of him while on his vessel" because they said the "passport was microchipped."

In another report, believed to be Juliet Lamont, recounted being "sprayed with a water cannon and left to sit in an unventilated area with her hands tied and clothes soaked for seven hours."

"During this time, she said her head was repeatedly ‘shoved’ down by ISF," the report from the consular visit on Friday stated.

Lamont said: "A guard had warned her not to drink the facility’s water, and clean water was not being offered to her."

"She was ‘gravely’ concerned about her physical health due to an underlying blood pressure condition and reported feeling dehydrated, weak, dizzy, and confused."

Meanwhile, Japan’s Mainichi newspaper reported that Japanese activist Mikako Yasumura will spend a night in Jordan before flying to the Netherlands, where she resides permanently, following her deportation.

Two years of genocidal war on Gaza came on the heels of the Israeli naval attack on Global Sumud Flotilla vessels last week, when they detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries.

The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,100 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.