British activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla have claimed they were zip-tied, held in insect-infested cells and deprived of sleep while in custody in Israel.
Evie Snedker and Sijaad Hussain told Metro they were allegedly left to drink filthy water and subjected to violent searches at a high-security prison in the Negev desert.
The pair were among more than 500 activists who were attempting to deliver aid to Gaza before their ships were intercepted by Israeli forces last week.
Dozens of participants, including other Britons, have come forward with stories of harsh treatment, which Israel has strongly denied.
All 13 Britons who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla have now been ‘freed’ by Israel, according to the group’s website, with a number returning home on Monday.
Evie, 26, was on the ship Adara carrying medicine and baby formula to Gaza when the boat was boarded by Israeli officers on October 1 and taken to Ashdod port.
The former Ministry of Defence worker claimed detainees were then forced to kneel on concrete in a ‘torture position’ before being violently frisked.
Evie told Metro: ‘The searches were quite violent. They would kick your legs apart and they stole everyone’s medication.
‘There was a lot of intimidation. They’re shouting, barking at you.
‘All my human rights were violated, but it’s nowhere near as bad as what Palestinians and others still experience.
‘They took my EpiPen from me and I said, “Please, can I keep that? It’s an unknown allergy. I could die.” And they just said, “We don’t care.”‘
The 26-year-old said her hands were zip-tied so tightly she was left with marks for days.
It was in the port that she also saw Greta Thunberg surrounded by Israeli flags and surrounded by six to eight guards who were ‘laughing and jeering at her’.
It has been claimed that the climate activist was held in a cell with bedbugs and forced to kiss the Israeli flag before her release.
Other freed detainees have alleged that the climate change campaigner was dragged by her hair and beaten in front of them, accusations which the Israeli embassy has called ‘complete lies’.
In a video posted a video on Monday, Greta said detainees in Israel faced ‘absurd mistreatment’ and ‘abuse’ in custody, before urging the media to instead focus on Israeli ‘war crimes’ in Gaza.
Evie described being held in an outdoor cage and strip searched at the notorious Ketziot Prison, a high-security prison in the Negev desert primarily used to detain Palestinians accused of terrorist activities.
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There, she claims she was forced to stay in an ‘incredibly unclean’ cell without a mattress and with cockroaches crawling over it.
The activist said Israeli officials would wake up exhausted prisoners at least once an hour by shining lights in their faces.
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She added: ‘You’re taken out of the cell for no reason. You’re lined up in a courtyard and then put back in. Anything to keep you awake and give you sleep deprivation.’
Evie claimed her and the other detainees were denied water and told the only option was to drink taps which appeared to have faeces on them.
She said: ‘The water from some taps was brown and smelt horrible. But there was nothing else to drink, and I was so dehydrated by that point.
‘If I’d been there another two days, my life would’ve been at risk with the lack of water.’
The activist said the water left her so unwell that she later required urgent medical treatment in hospital in Turkey.
Evie was on hunger strike during the ordeal, but she was allegedly never offered any food while in prison.
The former defence official did say she was taken to see a judge during her time in detention, where she listed all her complaints about how she was treated by Israeli authorities.
British activist Sijaad Hussain said he also faced verbal abuse, physical restraint of detainees and sleep deprivation tactics.
The chartered accountant, from Walsall, was travelling on the All In flotilla ship when he claims the Israeli Navy attacked the boat with high-pressure water cannons.
He told Metro: ‘It was a harrowing experience. They gushed us with a flood of water, it was like going under a big waterfall and you can’t breathe.
‘It was horrible, salty water and was in our eyes, mouth and up our nose.’
Once back in the port of Ashdod on Thursday last week, Sijaad claims guards aggressively manhandled detainees, kept them in the blistering sun for hours and zip-tied their wrists.
‘We lived in constant fear. We didn’t know what they were going to do. We were always on edge, wandering when they were going to get us.
‘They were power-hungry. They had power over us and made up the rules as they went along.’
The 55-year-old said he received Islamophobic abuse due to his beard, which he said was relentlessly mocked.
He said: ‘You could make out that they were calling me Santa Claus. I mean I’ve had that little children but these were grown adults. That abuse was constant.’
Sijaad said he and other prisoners were denied water for hours once at Ketziot prison.
He allegedly only received fresh drinking water after 24 hours when he taken to see a British consulate official, who gave him cups of water.
The dad-of-three recalled: ‘Everyone was in a right state. We were asking them, “Give us some water. We need to drink.”‘
Sijaad said he was later given water by a judge and did receive some meals in his prison cell.
Both Evie and Sijaad landed back in the UK on Monday alongside a group of other Brits who were part of the over 500-strong flotilla.
One Scottish activist Margaret Pacetta was hospitalised after returning home to Glasgow.
She told The National that she suffered a chest infection and claimed she barely received any food.
British-Palestinian journalist Kieran Andrieu, who was on the same ship as Evie, claimed to Sky News that he was ‘thrown to the floor’ at the port of Ashdod with his hands ‘tied behind his backs’.
He said the experience at the Israeli prison ‘violated’ international humanitarian law, including being denied water and being forced to drink from taps that produced water with fecal matter.
Andrieu added that many detainees were denied crucial medicines.
Other flotilla members have also countless other abuse in Israeli custody, including beatings, having automatic rifles pointed at their heads and dogs set upon them, the Guardian reports.
Israel’s foreign ministry has said all participants’ legal rights had been upheld and the only violence involved an activist who bit a female medic at Israel’s Ketziot prison.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson rejected the allegations.
The Israeli embassy in the UK called previous allegations of degrading treatment of prisoners ‘complete lies’.
Their statement said: ‘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.
‘Israel is and will remain a state governed by the rule of law, committed to upholding the rights and dignity of all individuals in accordance with international standards.’
Metro has approached the Israeli Embassy for comment about the allegations from Evie Snedker and Sijaad Hussain.
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