Sydneysider Aboard Gaza Flotilla Has Been Deported To Jordan

A Sydney local who joined the international flotilla that attempted to break the siege in Gaza is returning home after being arrested and detained by Israel.

Sydneysider Abubakir Rafiq was among the seven Australian citizens deported from Israel to Jordan yesterday, alongside Juliet Lamont, Hamish Paterson, David Adler, Surya McEwan, Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman, and Cameron Tribe.

The group arrived in the country on on Tuesday after being held in the high-security Ketziot prison near the Israel-Egypt border in the Negev Desert for five days. At least one member of the group is expected to land in Australia by Friday.

In statements made to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the flotilla members claim they were subject to sleep deprivation, physical violence, and and lack of food and water.

The seven Australian citizens were part of an international group of more than 450 people and 40 boats who attempted to bring food and aid to the citizens of Gaza currently under Israeli military occupation. Israel’s navy intercepted them off the coast of the city, before arresting and detaining them.

Jennifer Robinson, the lawyer representing the group from London-based Doughty Street Chambers told the Sydney Morning Herald that the release of the detainees was welcomed, but that they “remain deeply concerned by the human rights violations suffered by our clients during their detention, including physical abuse, threats of violence, sleep deprivation and other forms of inhuman and degrading treatment.”

In a statement to the ABC, the Israeli Foreign Ministry denied the claims, and said they were “complete lies”.

“Of course, all detainees from the Hamas–Sumud provocation were given access to water, food, and medical care,” they said. “The detainees were not denied access to bathroom facilities — in fact they have a bathroom facility within the cells.

“All their legal rights, including access to medical care, were fully upheld.”

Concerns for treatment of detainees

The sister of Abubakir Rafiq, Hajar, announced the news that her brother had been released to a crowd of hundreds gathering in Bankstown for an October 7 vigil on Tuesday evening.

“My body has been running on adrenaline for six days now, just not knowing what’s going to happen,” she told Australian Associated Press.

“I’m over the moon. I’m ecstatic. I’m just really relieved.”

At a Ballina press conference held by the family members of the detainees on Tuesday morning, mother of Surya McEwen, Jacinta, said she was surprised by the lack of government intervention after her son had been “abducted in international waters”.

“I’m just absolutely shocked that Prime Minister [Anthony] Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have not even contacted me as his mother, have not said anything about this,” she said.

“Even this morning, there’s mention of October 7 [Hamas attacks], but there is no mention of our Australian citizens, our sons and daughters, who are in prison, in a horrible prison and being maltreated.”

A spokesperson for Foreign Minister Penny Wong confirmed that the government had raised the welfare and treatment of Australians who were detained with Israel in Tel Aviv and in Canberra.

Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said on Tuesday afternoon that the government had been working to release the group, but wouldn’t comment on the activists’ treatment.

“We’ve certainly made our views known to the Israeli government through our consular staff in the Middle East that these people should be treated in accordance with international law,” Thistlethwaite told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing. “But most importantly, we want to see them returned to Australia as quickly as possible.”