The Global Global Sumud Flotilla Demands Immediate Release of Political Prisoner Saif Abukeshek As Swedish Embassy Visit Reveals Threats, Abuse, and Deteriorating Health in israeli Detention [multi]

May 7, 2026 ASKALAN, OCCUPIED PALESTINE – The Global Sumud Flotilla is sounding the alarm over the escalating abuse, psychological torture, and life-threatening treatment being inflicted upon Palestinian-Spanish-Swedish activist Saif Abukeshek inside israel’s Shikma detention facility. 

A newly disclosed report from Swedish consular officials confirms what we have warned from the beginning: Saif and Thiago Ávila are both being subjected to an unlawful and politically motivated detention marked by threats, violent treatment, intimidation, and conditions that place their lives in danger.

Threats, Intimidation, and Psychological Abuse

According to the embassy’s account, israeli interrogators threatened Saif repeatedly during endless hours of interrogations, telling him he would “spend [his] life rotting in jail, ” threatening his family, and telling him: “Your kid’s life has ended.” He was repeatedly told he would never see his family again. 

The interrogations reportedly involved relentless shouting, repeated accusations, intimidation, and psychological abuse designed to break him down. 

Saif also described violent treatment by guards during transfers between detention and court appearances. He reported being blindfolded whenever outside his cell, violently handled during transfers, and subjected to degrading verbal abuse throughout.

Abducted in International Waters 

Saif was abducted by the IOF in international waters near Greece while participating in a nonviolent humanitarian flotilla challenging israel’s illegal siege on Gaza. While most of the more than 170 detained activists were released, Saif Abukeshek and Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila remain imprisoned without charge under allegations widely condemned by legal advocates and international observers. Spain and Brazil have already publicly declared the detentions illegal. 

These detentions are not exceptional. They are an extension of the same system of imprisonment, administrative detention, torture, and impunity imposed onPalestinians for decades, now expanded beyond Palestine’s borders into international waters.

Deteriorating Health Under Detention

Most urgently, Swedish officials expressed alarm after Saif escalated his hunger strike into a dry hunger strike, refusing both food and water in protest of his treatment and detention. Embassy officials warned israeli authorities of the urgent need for continuous medical monitoring. Saif is reportedly suffering from low blood sugar, high blood pressure, exhaustion, and weakness. 

The embassy report further confirms that Saif was previously held in painful stress positions while bound, to the point he required oxygen, before being forced back into the same position again. He also reported prolonged blindfolding, isolation, violent transfers, and constant surveillance under 24-hour camera monitoring. 

Calls for Immediate Action 

The international community must understand the gravity of this moment. israel is holding a Palestinian activist seized in international waters without charge, threatening his children and family, psychologically tormenting him during interrogations, and allowing his health to deteriorate during a dry hunger strike. 

The Global Sumud Flotilla calls on:

- The Swedish government to immediately demand Saif’s release and publicly condemn his treatment;

- International human rights organizations and legal bodies to intervene before irreversible harm is done;

- Media outlets worldwide to expose the reality of what is happening inside the Shikma detention facility for decades;

- People of conscience everywhere to raise urgent public pressure for Saif’s release and the release of Thiago and all Palestinian hostages and political prisoners 

- Accountability of all those involved in these ongoing abuses and crimes against humanity against Saif, Thiago and all Palestinians.

Part of a Broader System

What is happening to Saif Abukeshek is not an aberration, it is part of the samenmachinery of imprisonment and political persecution imposed on tens of thousands of Palestinians for generations. israel wants Saif to disappear quietly into that machinery of captivity.

We refuse to let that happen.

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