Irish Nobel laureate remains in detention in Israel

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Máiread Maguire a Nobel Peace Prize laureate from Ireland remains in detention in Israel. Máiread Corrigan-Maguire won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to reconcile Catholics and Protestants, through the Community of Peace People, an organization which attempts to encourage a peaceful resolution of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Maguire was aboard a vessel, the Spirit of Humanity, which was delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. The vessel was boarded by Israeli commandos, commandeered, and taken to Ashdod port where she was arrested and imprisoned on the charge of entering Israel illegally.

Maguire said, "US President Barack Obama has called upon the Palestinians to abandon violence but Israel is denying them the right to non-violently resist the siege of Gaza."

The boat was carrying three tonnes of medical supplies, toys, crayons, and a symbolic bag of cement. Its cargo has been confiscated. Maguire has said that the vessel was in international waters when it was boarded.

Israel has allowed former U.S. congresswoman, Cynthia McKinney, to return home along with 17 others it had detained. The Israeli Interior Ministry had said Máiread Maguire was to be released and expelled today. The Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin last week called for the immediate release of Ms Maguire. Also still in custody is another Irish citizen, Derek Graham, along with a Dane and a Yemeni cameraman for the Arab TV network Al-Jazeera.

Last week a United Nations human rights investigator, Richard Falk, called Israel's seizure of the ship "unlawful." Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, rejected that charge and said that "clearly the purpose of that ship was to create a buzz and serve as a propaganda vehicle against Israel."

Have an opinion on this story? Share it!

Sources

Oakland Ross. "Israel frees all but four protesters from ship" — Toronto Star, July 7, 2009
Reuters. "Report: Israel releases former U.S. congresswoman McKinney" — Haaretz, July 7, 2009
Michael Jansen. "Israel deports Nobel laureate" — The Irish Times, July 7, 2009
"Nobel peace laureate jailed in Israel for Gaza activism" — Haaretz, July 6, 2009
"Israel to deport two Irish activists" — The Irish Times, July 6, 2009
Michael Jansen. "Irish Nobel winner still in Israeli jail" — The Irish Times, July 6, 2009
"Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire Speaks from Israeli Jail Cell After Arrest on Boat Delivering Humanitarian Aid to Gaza" — Democracy Now!, July 2, 2009
"Gaza support ship boarded by Israel" — RTÉ News and Current Affairs, June 30, 2009

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License