Featured Image Credit: Mario Wurzburger/Getty Images
Topics: Greta Thunberg, Israel, Palestine, World News
Joshua Nair
Topics: Greta Thunberg, Israel, Palestine, World News
Greta Thunberg has claimed that she was subject to 'mistreatment' following her time in Israeli custody.
The Swedish environmental campaigner contacted her native's officials and alleged she was being treated harshly after being removed and detained from a flotilla while they were carrying aid to Gaza.
She was taken in amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, though the likes of Donald Trump have claimed a ceasefire could soon be reached.
Thunberg claimed in her correspondence with officials that she wasn't alone in the awful conditions and was allegedly forced to take photographs while holding up flags, with the identity of the flags yet to be confirmed.
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According to correspondence seen by The Guardian, an email was sent by the Swedish foreign ministry to Thunberg's loved ones to update them on her condition.
An official who visited the 22-year-old claimed she was kept 'in a cell infested with bedbugs, with too little food and water'.
The email confirmed that the Swedish embassy successfully met with Thunberg, adding: “She informed of dehydration. 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.”
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Thunberg wondered if images of her and the other detainee had gone public, with allegations of her poor detention conditions confirmed by at least two other members of the flotilla who also were captured by Israeli forces, before being released on Saturday (4 October).
Journalist Lorenzo D'Agostino, another flotilla participant, also claimed that the Swedish activist was 'wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy'.
However, the Israeli embassy has dismissed the claims as 'complete lies', saying: “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.”
It's since been reported that Thunberg is expected to be among more than 70 people of different nationalities to leave Israel today (6 October).
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Thunberg was one of 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers who made up the Global Sumud Flotilla, which consisted of over 40 vessels aiming to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza while attempting to bypass Israel's 16-year naval blockade around the area.
It was reported that Israeli forces stopped and captured those aboard all the vessels before holding them at a high-security prison in the Negev desert called Ketziot, or Ansar III.
The solitary confinement is used for Palestinian security prisoners who are considered to be involved in militant or terrorist activities.
This was the second time Thunberg was arrested along with other flotilla members, as she tried something similar earlier year which ended in an arrest and subsequent deportation.
A Swedish official claimed in an email that Thunberg was asked by Israeli authorities to sign a document, though 'she expressed uncertainty about what the document meant and did not want to sign anything she did not understand', an email stated.
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The email stated that she also had access to a legal counsel.