SEPANG, May 19 — The Sumud Nusantara Command Centre (SNCC) has confirmed that 25 Malaysians who were on 15 ships of Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) 2.0 were among those detained after dozens of humanitarian aid ships were reportedly intercepted by the Israeli Navy while en route to Gaza.
SNCC director-general Datuk Sani Araby Abdul Alim Araby said that 40 flotilla ships, involving nearly 350 humanitarian activists, had been intercepted and raided as of 3pm today.
The SNCC has yet to receive confirmation of the status and location of all the activists who were detained, including whether they are still at sea or have been taken to Ashdod port.
"SNCC received visual reports confirming that all activists were forcibly abducted from their respective ships onto four regime military vessels.
"To date, SNCC has yet to receive confirmation on the status of all detained activists, including the location and destination of their transfer after the interception incident," he said during a media conference today.
Sani added that the SNCC is closely monitoring two possible locations for the transfer of humanitarian aid flotilla activists detained by the Israeli regime, either heading to Greece or the port of Ashdod.
The first scenario was based on initial information claiming that the Israeli military ship carrying the activists was moving towards Greece, while the second scenario was based on the announcement by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani that the ships were expected to arrive at the Port of Ashdod tomorrow.
He said that both are highly probable, but until now, the exact location of all detained activists had not been ascertained.
"It is possible that Israel is trying to divert attention, and until now we have not yet been certain where they will actually be taken," Sani said.
He noted that the intercepted and detained vessels include Cactus, Marilyn, Jandabar, Holy Blue, Sadabad, Zio Faster, Blue Toys, Kyriakos, Josef, Barbaros, Tenaz, Ozgurluk, Isobella, Amanda, Umut, Furleto, Boralize, Vincovolo, Amazon, Bianca ITA, Abodes, Gotico, Bye Luby, Themis, La Cirena, Last Dream, Adalah, Rim, Peluxo, Iridescence, Belella, Atlantic Blue, Venus, Isias, Azur, Nablus, Diabolo, L'Arq, Perseverance, and Munki.
The Malaysians involved in the incident were the Azur ship carrying Razman Mat Ali, Nor Liyana Farhan Daud (Amazon), Al Ahmad Shah Abdul Kadir (Iridescence), and the Marilyn ship carrying Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak and Eddy Noor Mad Amin.
Also arrested were the Bolarize ship carrying Mohd Hanafi Mohd Salim and Mohd Redzal Amzah, and the Ozgurluk ship carrying Jihan Alya Mohd Nordin and Norhelmi Ab Ghani.
Yesterday, 16 Malaysians were arrested, including Zainal Rashid Ahmad (on board the Amanda ship), Muhamad Muhsin Zaidi (Isobella), as well as Mohammad Shazly Mohammad Shees and Tengku Ahmad Taufik Tengku Noor Zahari (Cactus).
Also arrested were S. Patmanathan, Muhammad Amirul Afif Mohd Azhar, and Dr Syakirin Muhamed Senin (Ferluto), Abdul Samad Selamat and Naufa Azhari (Bianca ITA), Mohammad Farizzal Rostam and Muhammad Zaid Abdul Karim (Gotico), and Norazman Ishak (Abodes).
In addition, Hazwan Hazim Dermawan, Mohd Shamsir Mohd Isa, Osman Zolkifli (Themis), and Ahmad Musa Al-Nuwayri Kamaruzaman (Josef) were also arrested.
Sani said that the SNCC also confirmed that several delegations from other countries operated by Sumud Nusantara were also arrested, involving activists from Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, namely Abdul Sattar (Zio Faster), Sameera (Umut), Thoudy Badai, Heru Rahendro, and Andre Prasetyo (Ozgurluk), as well as Bambang Noroyono (Bolarize), and Andi Anga Prasadewa (Josef).
"SNCC condemns this interception and kidnapping as a pirate act, a despicable act and a clear violation of international law, particularly the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and a serious violation of the principle of freedom of humanitarian missions carried out in international waters," he said.
