‘I just wanted to help people – the Israeli army captured and tortured me’

‘Stepping onto the boat, I was aware that interception was a possibility,’ says Hasnain

Looking at my friend beside me, I could see the pain etched across his face. He had just been hit by one of the rubber bullets sprayed in our direction by Israeli forces. 

It certainly wasn’t going to be the last moment of violence inflicted on us after we were taken from our boat, held hostage and tortured – but even then I knew that no matter what we were going through it wasn’t a  fraction of the trauma people in Palestine are going through. 

I have always been involved with activism, but I had never planned to be part of theGlobal Sumud Flotilla, a convoy of vessels crossing the Mediterranean to deliver aid to the people of

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