Mohammad Sıo
11 June 2025•Update: 11 June 2025
ISTANBUL
Israel has placed two international activists from a Gaza-bound aid ship in solitary confinement, an Israeli rights group said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the rights organization and legal center Adalah said Brazilian volunteer Thiago Avila and French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan were transferred to separate prison facilities, away from the others, and placed in solitary confinement.
“Tiago Avila was placed in isolation in Ayalon Prison due to his ongoing hunger and thirst strike, which he began two days ago,” it said.
Adalah said Avila has been treated aggressively by prison authorities, although this has not escalated to physical assault.
“Rima Hassan was placed in isolation under inhumane conditions in Neve Tirza Prison after writing “Free Palestine” on a wall in Givon Prison,” it added.
“She was moved to a small, windowless cell with extremely poor hygienic conditions and has been denied access to the prison yard.”
The rights group denounced the transfer of the two foreign activists to separate prison facilities as “a serious violation of the volunteers’ rights and a clear attempt to exert mental and political pressure on them.”
It called on Israeli authorities to end the solitary confinement, halt all “retaliatory actions,” and immediately release all eight detained volunteers.
The center later said that it was informed that “Rima has been moved from solitary back to Givon. Thiago remains in solitary.”
The pair was among 12 international activists detained by Israeli forces aboard the Madleen aid ship on Monday. Israel deported four activists to their home countries on Tuesday, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The other six activists in Israeli custody are Suayb Ordu from Türkiye, Mark van Rennes from the Netherlands, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, Reva Viard from France, and Yasemin Acar from Germany.
The British-flagged vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters as it set sail for Gaza in an attempt to break an Israeli naval blockade on the enclave, where more than 55,100 people have been killed in a deadly onslaught since October 2023.
As Israel has continued to close all Gaza’s border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.4 million inhabitants.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
