FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2025
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Occupied Palestine – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition strongly condemns the Israeli government’s use of solitary confinement against two of its detained volunteers: Rima Hassan, a Palestinian Member of the European Parliament, and Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian human rights defender and member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee. Both were aboard the Madleen, a civilian aid ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza when it was unlawfully seized by Israeli forces in international waters.
Rima Hassan was reportedly placed in solitary confinement after writing “Free Palestine” on the wall of her cell. While she has since been removed from solitary and returned to Givon prison, her detention and the punitive measures taken against her remain a direct attack on a democratically elected official who has consistently advocated for justice, liberation, and an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza. Silencing a parliamentarian in this manner underscores the brutality and impunity of the Zionist regime.
Thiago Ávila has also been forcibly isolated — confined in a small, dark, airless, and contactless cell, where Israeli authorities have threatened to detain him for seven days. Ávila is on his third day of a hunger and water strike to denounce Israel’s crimes and the complicity of governments that have remained shamefully silent.
“This is yet another attempt to punish and silence a voice exposing the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” said Ávila’s wife, Lara. “The peoples of the world are tired of the complicit silence of governments that have enabled the Zionist regime’s impunity for 77 years. Enough impunity. Enough hunger. Enough apartheid. Enough genocide. Freedom for Thiago! Freedom for the eight abducted Freedom Flotilla volunteers! Freedom for the Palestinian people!”
According to the legal team at Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, the use of solitary confinement in this context constitutes a grave violation of international law and amounts to psychological torture. These actions form part of a broader Israeli effort to target solidarity activists, repress nonviolent resistance, and punish those who dare to challenge its apartheid system.
The eight international volunteers abducted from the Madleen remain in Israeli military custody. They were detained for doing nothing more than attempting to deliver life-saving aid to Palestinians in full compliance with international law.
Adalah’s attorneys have demanded the immediate end to all retaliatory measures, the release of the volunteers from solitary confinement, and the freedom of all eight detainees. They call on Israeli authorities to either allow the Madleen to resume its humanitarian mission or facilitate the volunteers’ safe return to their home countries.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition urgently calls on the governments of France, Brazil, and the European Union to act immediately to protect their citizens and elected officials, demand their release, and hold Israel accountable for these violations of international law. Silence is complicity.