Nine Malaysian participants of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza mission will likely be flown to Istanbul, Turkey, this afternoon after being detained by Israel on Wednesday.
Humanitarian Care Malaysia (MyCARE) CEO Kamarul Zaman Shaharul Anwar said information received from the FFC command centre in Turkey indicated that the country’s foreign affairs ministry expects a flight from Israel to arrive in Istanbul at about 3pm Malaysian time.
“It is understood that the flight will be carrying a group of FFC activists from 22 countries, possibly including the nine Malaysians, as well as six Global Sumud Flotilla activists (three from Norway, two from Morocco and one from Spain).
“We are still waiting for detailed information from Wisma Putra to confirm whether the nine Malaysians are on the flight or otherwise,” Bernama reported him as saying.
Kamarul said lawyers from the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel had managed to meet all the Malaysian activists, who were reported to be in good health.
The nine Malaysians are Alauddin Ali, Fauziah Hassan, Hafiz Sulaiman, Ili Syakira Suhaimi, Afandi Salleh, Noorhasyimah Ismail, Norsham Abu Bakar, Maziah Muhammad and Astro Awani journalist Syafik Shukri Abdul Jalil.
Kamarul said MyCARE plans to send representatives to Istanbul. They will bring clothing and other essential items to the Malaysian activists.
The mission involving about 150 activists from 25 countries aboard nine vessels, including the Conscience and Umm Saad, was intercepted by Israeli forces less than 120 nautical miles from Gaza on Wednesday.
Eight Malaysians were on board the Conscience, while one was on the Umm Saad.
