SEPANG, Oct 3 — Lawyers from the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (ADALAH) have begun consultations to represent Malaysian activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) who have been detained by Israel.
Sumud Nusantara Command Centre (SNCC) director-general Datuk Sani Araby Abdul Alim Araby said the legal team has met all 23 Malaysians involved.
“All of them (from Malaysia) are safe and in good health,” he told a media conference here today.
Yesterday, international media, quoting a statement from ADALAH, reported that Israeli authorities had begun hearings regarding the detention and deportation orders of activists detained during the GSF mission at Ashdod Port.
According to the ADALAH statement, the process began without prior notice to lawyers and denied the activists access to legal representation, which amounted to a violation of due legal process and their fundamental rights.
ADALAH confirmed its legal team managed to gain entry into the port to meet the detained activists after initially being barred by Israeli authorities.
Sani Araby said he could not confirm whether any of the Malaysian activists had undergone the hearing process.
“We cannot confirm this because the total number of participants (detained) is 495. It will surely take some time for us to verify. I think that for Malaysians, when the time (comes), our lawyers will have been given access to act as representatives,” he said.
Yesterday, Sani Araby confirmed 23 Malaysian activists had been detained by Israel after communications were cut off and visuals showed their detention.
The detained Malaysians are singer Heliza Helmi and her sister, Nur Hazwani Afiqah, who were aboard the Hio; Nurfarahin Romli and Danish Nazran Murad who were aboard the Grande Blu; singer Zizi Kirana aboard the Huga; Musa Nuwayri, Iylia Balqis and Sul Aidil aboard the Alma; Haikal Abdullah, Muaz Zainal, Zulfadhli Khiduddin and Rusydi Ramli aboard the Sirius; Razali Awang on the Inana; influencer Nurul Hidayah Mohd Amin, also known as Ardell Aryana, on the Mikeno; PU Rahmat, Norhelmi Ab Ghani, Mohd Asmawi Mukhtar and Norazman Ishak aboard the Estrella; Zainal Rashid and Ustaz Muhammad on the Fair Lady; and Muhammad Hareez Adzrami, also known as Haroqs, Muhd Haikal Luqman Zulkefli and Taufiq Mohd Razif on the Free Willy.
The GSF, comprising more than 500 activists from 44 countries, sailed towards Gaza as a symbol of solidarity and to break Israel’s naval siege on the Palestine enclave.
