CITY

Israeli soldiers beat and tortured flotilla organisers Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila after abducting them in international waters near Greece in the early hours of Thursday morning, lawyers and diplomats have said. After illegally intercepting 22 boats and kidnapping around 200 activists hundreds of miles from Gaza, Israel transferred the majority to Greek authorities, but refused to release Abukeshek and Ávila. Instead, it transported them back to an Israeli desert prison, where Palestinians are routinely tortured. Brazilian activist Ávila was dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so badly he passed out twice, lawyers said, after visiting him on Saturday. His wife, Lara Souza, said an embassy official told her he had been temporarily blinded by his injuries, with his left eye still swollen shut, but he was being denied medical treatment. In a brief visit, where he was separated from the consul by a glass screen and not able to speak freely, he reported pain all over his body, especially in his hand and shoulder, and said that soldiers had threatened to throw him overboard and target his wife and two-year-old daughter. Abukeshek, who had been sailing on an observer boat and did not intend to go to Gaza, was “in shock”, his wife Sally Issa said. He was forced to lie face-down on the floor of an Israeli warship for two days, lawyers said, blindfolded and with his hands bound behind his back. Spain has demanded Israel release Abukeshek, who is Palestinian but holds Spanish and Swedish citizenship. On Friday, prime minister Pedro Sánchez said he had been "illegally abducted by the Netanyahu government". On Sunday, the activists appeared before an Israeli court, where a judge extended their detention by two days. Lawyers demanded their immediate and unconditional release, telling the court the entire process was "fundamentally flawed and illegal", and describing Israel's actions as a "retaliatory measure against humanitarian activist leaders". The two men have now been transferred back to solitary confinement in Shikma prison, where they are being held in windowless cells. Both are on hunger strike, with Ávila saying he will not leave without Abukeshek.