<article data-history-node-id="440810" about="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/deported-flotilla-activists-allege-sadistic-sexual-abuse-and-torture" class="live-blog-update default clearfix"> <h2> <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/deported-flotilla-activists-allege-sadistic-sexual-abuse-and-torture" rel="bookmark"> <span class="field field-title">Deported flotilla activists allege 'sadistic' sexual abuse and torture in Israeli captivity</span> </a> </h2> <div class="content"> <div class="field field-field-text"><p>Flotilla activists who were abducted and jailed by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/countries/israel" target="_blank">Israeli</a>&nbsp;authorities while in international waters have reported being subjected to sexual abuse and torture while in Israeli captivity.</p> <p>Some 430 activists, who were held after Israeli forces raided the Gaza-bound&nbsp;<a href="https://globalsumudflotilla.org/" target="_blank">Global Sumud Flotilla</a>, were deported to Istanbul on Thursday evening.&nbsp;</p> <p>Footage showed activists arriving at airports clad in grey prison tracksuits and keffiyehs with their fists raised, as families and supporters greeted them.</p> <p>Upon arrival the activists reported being fired at with rubber bullets, beaten and subjected to sexual assault while in Israeli custody.</p> <p>Italian journalist Alessandro Mantovani, who is among the deportees, told reporters at Rome’s Fiumicino airport that he and others were“taken to Ben Gurion airport in handcuffs and with chains on our feet and put on a flight to Athens”.</p> <h3>Read more:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sadistic-deported-flotilla-activists-allege-sexual-abuse-and-torture-israeli-custody">Deported flotilla activists allege 'sadistic' sexual abuse and torture in Israeli captivity</a></h3> <figure role="group" class="media-block"> <div class="group-inner"> <div alt="Italian flotilla activists gesture upon arrival at Fiumicino Airport in Italy after being deported from Israel on Thursday (Remo Casilli/Reuters)" data-embed-button="file_browser" data-entity-embed-display="image:image" data-entity-embed-display-settings="{" data-entity-type="file" data-entity-uuid="05ee813e-809a-4b10-abe2-235db3e29cac" data-langcode="en" class="embedded-entity"> <img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/images-story/Untitled_59.jpg" width="1920" height="1080" alt="Italian flotilla activists gesture upon arrival at Fiumicino Airport in Italy after being deported from Israel on Thursday (Remo Casilli/Reuters)" typeof="foaf:Image" fetchpriority="high"> </div> <figcaption>Italian flotilla activists gesture upon arrival at Fiumicino Airport in Italy after being deported from Israel on Thursday (Remo Casilli/Reuters)</figcaption> </div> </figure> <p><span style="background: url(&quot;https://www.middleeasteye.net/modules/contrib/ckeditor/vendor/plugins/widget/images/handle.png&quot;) rgba(220, 220, 220, 0.5); top: -15px; left: 0px;"><img height="15" role="presentation" src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==" title="Click and drag to move" width="15" loading="lazy"></span></p> </div> </div> </article>

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