"Our compatriot Saif Abukeshek is now flying as a free man to Spain, where he will be reunited with his family and loved ones within a few hours," writes Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares.
In a post on Instagram after his release, Saif Abukeshek says that he has just arrived in Athens, and that his thoughts are with the Palestinians in Gaza.
“I am convinced that what I have been subjected to cannot be compared to the suffering they endure every day,” he says.
Captured near Greece
Saif Abukeshek was arrested along with Brazilian Thiago Ávila in late April in international waters near Greece in an operation against the Global Sumud Flotilla. Israel has claimed, among other things, that Abukeshek is a member of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), an organization that the country has designated as a terrorist organization.
"Since the investigations into them have been completed, the two professional provocateurs, Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila, from the provocation convoy, have today been deported from Israel," the Israeli Foreign Ministry writes on X.
Abukeshek has both Spanish and Swedish citizenship and has lived in Spain for 20 years. The Swedish Foreign Ministry confirms in a written comment that Abukeshek has been released for onward travel to Spain.
"Provocation"
"In our contacts with Israeli authorities, we have continuously underlined the importance of respecting the rights of the Spanish-Swedish citizen," the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes in a statement and continues:
"In order not to complicate the work and due to consular confidentiality, we cannot go into further details at this time."
Israel views the two men's attempt to reach the Gaza Strip as a pure provocation. The Global Sumud Flotilla initiative is an activist attempt to deliver emergency aid to the occupied Gaza Strip by sea.
The organization Adalah, which is Abukeshek's and Ávila's legal representative, accuses Israeli authorities of mistreating them, among other things by isolating them in detention.
"Detaining and interrogating activists and human rights defenders is an unacceptable attempt to suppress international solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza," the organization wrote in a statement to AFP after the two men were released.
