Irish Peace Activist Beaten by Israelis

An Irish Peace activist had his passport stolen by the Israeli  authorities as he was forcefully ejected from Israel last week. This
theft of Irish state documents by Israeli government agents is a grave  matter of personal and national security, considering that it was only
discovered in February that Irish passports were used by an Israeli Mossad  hit squad to murder a Palestinian official in Dubai.
One of the activists on the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza, Mr. Fiachra Ó  Luain, has written to Minister for Foreign Affairs, MÍcheal Martin to
demand that action be taken. Mr Ó Luain was forced on to a flight to Turkey despite his legal arraignment to take a case in the Israeli
Courts to contest his deportation order. His case was based on the fact that he was abducted and brought illegally to Israel against his
will by Israeli Navy Commando assassins and could not therefore be legally deported. “We were political hostages, used as pawns by the Israeli
government in a Public Relations war and we had all of our basic rights denied.” said Mr Ó Luain.

Mr. O'Luain's passport disappeared while in the hands of Israeli officials in Ben Gurion airport after they beat him on the ground. As
a result he was left to make his way through a foreign country, injured and with no identity documents. This was a potentially
dangerous situation for him. Travelling on a flight to Turkey without a passport is a crime that is punishable by Turkish law. Luckily, Mr Ó
Luain managed to discuss this with Mr. Nabi Avu, Senior Advisor to the Turkish Prime Minister, who was on the same flight. Mr. Avu guaranteed
that Turkey would not prosecute Ó Luain given the circumstances.

Shannonwatch, an Irish peace and human rights group with whom Mr Ó Luain has been actively involved, have expressed serious concern at this
precedent. “Fiachra Ó Luáin’s basic right to travel and his right to an identity as an Irish citizen were put in jeopardy by the action of the
Israeli forces. It is a very dangerous precedent that Israel must not be allowed to get away with. As Minister Martin himself said in the
Dáil, these people never chose to go to Israel. They were hijacked in international waters and brought there against their will. For Israeli
agents to take his passport in those circumstances is an outrage” stated Dr. Edward Horgan, former Irish Army Officer and International Secretary of the

Irish Peace and neutrality Alliance(PANA) which Mr Ó Luáin is also associated with.

Mr Ó Luain said he is very angry at the treatment he received at the hands of the Israeli security forces. “I am contacting the Minister for Foreign Affairs

to demand that he take action on this, as it is my right as an Irish citizen to hold my own passport and not have it removed by a
belligerent foreign government. I was kidnapped by Israel in international waters, where I was travelling legally as part of a
peaceful and humanitarian mission to Gaza when we were brutally attacked and members of our party deliberately assassinated. Israel has
yet to show any remorse for these criminal acts and in fact added insult to injury by allowing its armed agents to violently attack me and others in
Ben Gurion airport before stealing my passport.”

Irish passports are the property of the Department of Foreign Affairs and it is a serious offence to misuse them. For this reason Minister
Martin is already considering the action to be taken against an Israeli embassy official suspected of being involved in forging Irish
passports for use by Israeli Mossad assassins earlier this year.

“The confiscation of important passport documents by a foreign government is a serious act which should be addressed at the
highest levels of Irish and European governments.” said Fiachra Ó Luain.

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