{"id":125484,"date":"2026-05-07T18:53:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:53:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125484"},"modified":"2026-05-07T18:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:53:50","slug":"israeli-court-rejects-flotilla-activists-plea-challenging-detention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BEERSHEVA(National Times)- An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1997595\">\u00a0kidnapped<\/a>\u00a0by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as unlawful. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists aboard the flotilla intercepted in international waters off the coast of Greece on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two were abducted by Israeli forces and brought to Israel for questioning, while the others were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, an Israeli court&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1997931\">extended<\/a>&nbsp;their detention until Sunday to allow police more time to interrogate them, according to their lawyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lawyers then filed an appeal at the Beersheva district court against the detention, but it was rejected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cToday, the district court of Beersheva denied our appeal and basically accepted all of the arguments that the state or the police have represented before the court and kept the previous decision,\u201d lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The two activists, who are on a hunger strike, had appeared in the district court with their feet shackled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abu Keshek looked exhausted and sat with his hands clasped in his lap, while Avila appeared calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abu Salih said her clients had been subjected to \u201can illegal arrest that took place in international waters where the activists were kidnapped by the Israeli navy without any authority\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She went on to accuse the courts of \u201cgiving a free hand for the Israeli forces\u2026 to do it again and again\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Decision termed unlawful<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Israeli rights group Adalah, which is representing the pair, called Wednesday\u2019s court decision \u201cunlawful and unreasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis is especially egregious given that the activists were abducted from an Italian-flagged vessel, placing them under Italian jurisdiction,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adalah has also accused the authorities of subjecting the men to continuous abuse in detention, including keeping Avila in a cold cell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Abu Salih said Abu Keshek reported giving up water as well as food, and that the two men said authorities \u201ckeep interrogating them for most of the time, most of the day\u201d about the flotilla, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Adalah said authorities have accused the pair of \u201cassisting the enemy during wartime and providing services to a terrorist organisation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2018Swift release\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spain, Brazil and the United Nations have called for their swift release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in Gaza, who are in dire need of it,\u201d UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The flotilla had set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1780463\">&nbsp;blo\u00adckade<\/a>&nbsp;of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United Nations on Wednesday called on Israel to immediately release two activists kidnapped from a Gaza-bound flotilla by Israel, and demanded an investigation into \u201cdisturbing accounts\u201d they had been severely mistreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIsrael must immediately and unconditionally release Global Sumud Flotilla members Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, who were detained in international waters and brought to Israel where they continue to be held without charge,\u201d UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BEERSHEVA(National Times)- An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists\u00a0kidnapped\u00a0by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as unlawful. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125485,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BEERSHEVA(National Times)- An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists\u00a0kidnapped\u00a0by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as unlawful. Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila were among dozens of activists [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T13:53:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-07T13:53:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-23-2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/\",\"name\":\"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-23-2.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-07T13:53:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-07T13:53:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-23-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-23-2.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125484\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israeli court rejects flotilla activists\u2019 plea challenging detention - Nation","og_description":"BEERSHEVA(National Times)- An Israeli court on Wednesday rejected an appeal contesting the detention of two foreign activists\u00a0kidnapped\u00a0by Israeli forces from a Gaza-bound flotilla in international waters, with the rights group representing them denouncing the ruling as unlawful. 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