Environmental activist Greta Thunberg claims she suffered from “mistreatment” during her time in Israeli custody.
The Swedish national was detained after being removed from the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of some 40 vessels carrying aid to Gaza. According to correspondence seen by The Guardian, an email was sent by the Swedish foreign ministry to Thunberg’s family after her arrest, updating them on her condition.
Thunberg had reportedly claimed in her correspondence with officials that she had been forced to take photographs while holding up flags (the identity of the flags is not currently known).
Lawyers, meanwhile, had previously asserted that the Global Sumud Flotilla campaigners were being subjected to a lack of food, while being denied medication and access to clean water. Fellow activist Windfield Beaver, a US citizen, claimed that Thunberg was “treated terribly” and “used as propaganda”.
Not only that, but an official who visited the 22-year-old reported that she was kept ‘in a cell infested with bedbugs, with too little food and water’.
The aforementioned email read by the Guardian confirmed that the Swedish embassy had successfully met with Thunberg. “She informed of dehydration,” it read. “She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food.
“She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”
Journalist Lorenzo D’Agostino, another flotilla participant, claimed that Thunberg had been “wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy.”
The Israeli embassy, though, categorically denied the claims, labelling them “complete lies”.
“All detainees from the Hamas-Sumud provocation were given access to water, food and toilets; they were not denied access to legal counsel, and all their legal rights, including access to medical care, were fully upheld,” the embassy said.
Thunberg is expected to be among over 70 people from several nations to leave Israel today (6 October) when they are deported to Greece. All told, a reported 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers made up the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters.
Thunberg and her fellow activists are said to have been held at a high-security prison in the Negev desert called Ketziot, or Ansar III.
