The detention of two humanitarian activists by Israeli forces in international waters has sparked international outcry, as legal representatives reveal the pair have been subjected to routine psychological abuse, poor detention conditions and explicit threats of death or decades-long imprisonment. The two men — Thiago Avila, a Brazilian national, and Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian descent — were seized last Wednesday when Israeli naval forces intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the blockaded Gaza Strip, approximately 600 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast near the Greek island of Crete.
In total, Israeli forces intercepted at least 21 vessels during the raid, detaining 175 activists across the convoy. Flotilla organizers have labeled the interception, which took place far outside Israel’s recognized territorial boundaries, as an unambiguous act of piracy on the high seas.
Adalah, the Israeli legal center representing Avila and Abu Keshek, released a detailed statement on Monday outlining the abusive conditions the two men have endured since their capture. Both have been held in solitary confinement for more than a week, held in cells kept at extremely low temperatures and illuminated by constant bright lighting — a well-documented coercive tactic used to induce sleep deprivation and psychological disorientation. Whenever the pair are removed from their cells, even for scheduled medical check-ups, they are forced to wear blindfolds, a practice Adalah says constitutes a severe violation of international medical ethics.
Avila has been subjected to repeated interrogations lasting as long as eight hours at a time, during which interrogators allegedly threatened that he and Abu Keshek would either be killed or locked away for a century. Both men deny the multiple serious charges filed against them, which include assisting an enemy during wartime, maintaining contact with a foreign agent, membership in a designated terrorist organization, providing services to that group, and transferring funds to the organization.
In protest against their unlawful seizure and abusive detention conditions, Avila and Abu Keshek have entered their sixth day of a hunger strike. Last Tuesday, an Ashkelon District Court extended their pre-trial detention until Sunday. Legal team members Hadeel Abu Salih and Lubna Tuma argued in court that the entire case is fundamentally flawed and illegal, emphasizing that Israel has no legal jurisdiction to apply its domestic law to foreign nationals seized in international waters far from its own territory.
The interception has already drawn formal condemnation from the activists’ home countries. On Friday, the governments of Spain and Brazil released a joint statement declaring the detention of Avila and Abu Keshek to be illegal under international law.