To the Foreign Minister of Sweden; Margot Wallström To the Prime Minister of Sweden; Stefan Löfven
Ship to Gaza's sailing ketch "Freedom for Gaza" was approaching the coast of Gaza when it was boarded by Israeli militants on Friday 3 August on international waters, a gross violation of international law. The last reported position of the vessel before boarding was about 40 nautical miles from coast of Gaza at 20:06 (CET).
As we earlier informed the remaining captives who was detained after the hijack of the trawler Marianne will be deported in rounds during this coming Sunday and Monday.
We can now announce following flight routes and arrival times:
Foreign Ministry of Sweden informs they have presented a protest against Israel as a result of the boarding of Ship to Gaza fishing trawler Marianne while travelling through international waters on it’s way to Gaza.
The hijacked Ship to Gaza trawler Marianne of Gothenburg, Israeli web paper Ynet reports, anchored at the Israeli port in Ashdod this evening, just before 21.00PM (Swedish time). Ynet quotes an Israeli military spokesperson who claims everyone on board not being Israeli citizens will be interrogated and quickly expelled by plane. The Israeli citizens will, according to Ynet, be arrested by the Israeli police.
Marianne of Gothenburg can now be located 279 nautical miles from Gaza.
-Military vessels and reconnaissance planes appeared near Marianne during Saturday afternoon, says Joel Opperdoes kaptain onboard Marianne.
Opperdoes informs that an undentified vessel and what in his opinion appears as a military reconnaissance aircraft, which during Saturday afternoon could be located near Marianne. The crew could not identify nationality for neither the vessels or the planes.
On Tuesday November 19th, at 10 am, Ship to Gaza and 19 injured persons will file a police report on four high-ranking Israeli officers. The report will be filed at the central Stockholm police station on Kungsholmsgatan 43.
Media around the world have reported that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague have decided to investigate the events happening in relation to Israel’s military attack against the Freedom Flotilla in May, 2010. However, this is not the only legal process under way at the moment.
The news tell us that the diplomatic relations between Isreal and Turkey are being normalized. Israel has issued an official apoplogy for the bloody raid against the activists on Ship to Gaza/The Freedom Flotilla in 2010, that took nine lives, and have agreed to compensate the victimims’ families.
The countries have stated that they will repair their relations and cooperate to improve the situation in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, August the 9th, a meeting took place between Ambassador Ann Dismorr, Head of the Middle East and North Africa Unit at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jeannette Escanilla, Chairman of Ship to Gaza, Dror Feiler, legal spokesman for StG and StG board member Jan Strömdahl. The meeting was also attended by co-workers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
