Cynthia McKinney was able to get a call out to a colleague, Don Debar, she sends a message that she is fine, keep calling, faxing and emailing. Keep protesting, too! She is being held at the Ramle Prison in Israel...she has seen an attorney today provided by Free Gaza. She had no information on any of the 21 being released. Mairead Maguire is possibly being held or detained somewhere else. FREE the FREE GAZA 21! Demand that Israel return the ship along with the DANGEROUS CARGO--CRAYONS!
John Judge (Press Secretary during the 2008 campaign) sent this tonight:
I just got a call from former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney from inside an Israeli prison at Ramale where she and 20 other humanitarian aid workers from 9 different countries are still being held by Israeli authorities. US Embassy officials have spoken to Ms. McKinney and are aware of the situation. Four of the group are US citizens. Among them is Mairead Maguire, from Ireland, a Nobel laureate and renowned peace activist. They have named themselves the "Free Gaza 21." They are demanding their release. They were in international waters on a boat delivering humanitarian aid to people in Gaza when Israeli Navy ships surrounded them and illegally threatened them, dismantled their navigation equipment, boarded and confiscated the ship. All those aboard were then taken off the ship and into custody, and brought into Israel and imprisoned. Immigration officials in Israel said they did not want to keep them, but they remain imprisoned. State Department and White House officials have not effected their release or taken a strong public stance to condemn the illegal actions of the Israeli Navy, enforcing a blockade of humanitarian assistance that has been condemned by President Obama.
ARTICLES COMPILED BY FATIMA:
This article is from the ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION
On Wednesday, groups including the Green Party and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, as well as users of social networking tools like Twitter urged the Obama administration and the State Department to press Israel to release the detained passengers
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2009/07/01/mckinney_detained_gaza_israel.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab
According to Le Monde, (in italics) the IDF: No shots were fired during the boarding of the Spirit of Humanity ...the cargo will be sent to competent authorities.
I'll translate more later
http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2009/06/30/la-marine-israelienne-arraisonne-un-bateau-se-rendant-a-gaza_1213694_0.html
Liveleak has a slightly different take...
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=6af_1246397975
According to the Telegraph: British Goverment States:
"We have made it clear to Israel that we are very concerned for the safety of British nationals."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/5703146/Human-rights-activists-arrested-off-Gaza-coast.html
And from Al Arabya:
" There is a need for the people of the United States to understand that every piece of rubble that is on that strip of land is caused by U.S. weapons "
Former U.S. Congresswoman McKinney
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/12/29/63063.html#000
If anyone has any more info, PLEASE send it to me.
Free the Land!!
Fatima
