The Global Sumud flotilla has stated it “received confirmation” that 10 activists—including a Portuguese national—who were participating in the Global Sumud Land Caravan to Gaza and had been detained in Libya for a month, “are in the process of being released.”
“After 30 days of illegal detention in Libya, we have received confirmation that the ten volunteers kidnapped from our humanitarian convoy are in the process of being released,” the organization announced late Tuesday night in a statement published on social media. According to the group, “four people have just arrived in Tunisia”: Achraf Khoja (Tunisia), Domenico Centrone and Leonarda Alberizia (Italy), and Matías Rodríguez (Uruguay).
This development aligns with earlier remarks by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who announced the release of Centrone and Alberizia on social media, anticipating their arrival on Italian soil today. The Global Sumud flotilla added that “the remaining activists are expected to be released within the next 24 hours,” a group that includes volunteers from Portugal, Spain, the United States, Poland, and Argentina.
Portuguese consular authorities managed to meet with the detained Portuguese national for the first time last Tuesday. She had been held in Libya since late May on charges related to demonstrating.
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“Portuguese consular authorities were with our citizen Ana Margarida and found her to be in good physical health,” Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters on June 16.
“Naturally, from a psychological standpoint, it is a very difficult situation because she remains detained awaiting trial—something that could still take a few weeks—for an alleged crime of demonstration,” Rangel noted at the time, on the sidelines of a meeting with his Saudi Arabian counterpart at the Necessidades Palace.
The minister added that the government has been concerned about her situation “from the very beginning” and that the ministry has monitored the matter daily through the Portuguese embassy in Tunis, Tunisia, as Portugal does not maintain an embassy in Libya.
“Her physical health is good. Obviously, from a morale perspective, someone in such a complex situation is bound to be a bit down. That is understandable,” Rangel said, emphasizing that “the entire European Union is exerting significant pressure for the release of these citizens.”
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The confirmation from the Global Sumud flotilla came just hours after authorities in eastern Libya announced the initiation of deportation proceedings for the activists. This action was taken “in compliance with the decision issued by the Attorney General of the Benghazi Court of Appeal,” as stated on social media by the Foreign Ministry of Libya’s parallel eastern administration.
“The necessary legal and administrative procedures to implement this decision have been initiated, in accordance with current legislation,” the ministry stated. It argued that the implementation of the ruling “is consistent with respect for the sovereignty of the Libyan State” and will ensure “the preservation of public order and national security.”
The Global Sumud flotilla has urged “everyone to maintain pressure until each and every one of them returns home safe and sound.” Furthermore, while “celebrating this news,” the organization also recalled “the nearly ten thousand Palestinian political prisoners.”
“And our four detained Tunisian organizers and the tens of thousands of people unjustly held in detention centers around the world (…). No one is free until we are all free,” the organization concluded in its statement.
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The humanitarian caravan comprised ten trucks loaded with aid, seven ambulances, and more than 200 participants, including specialists in medicine, engineering, logistics, and international humanitarian law. It had departed from Mauritania about a month prior before being blocked at a checkpoint near the city of Sirte.
