Former Welsh newspaper editor says being kidnapped by Israel was worse than being imprisoned by the Taliban
Martin Shipton
A former editor of the Wales on Sunday newspaper has said she would rather spend two months in a Taliban jail than two days imprisoned by Israel.
Yvonne Ridley was speaking after being released from Israeli custody after she and nearly 500 other activists involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla were kidnapped in international waters as they tried to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Ms Ridley, who is originally from County Durham, edited Wales on Sunday in the mid-1990s before going to work on UK-wide papers in London.
Afghanistan
She made headlines around the world in 2001 after being captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. She had crossed the border from Pakistan intending to report undercover as the US-led invasion took place.
Ms Ridley, 67, was released by the Taliban following international pressure and she later converted to Islam. Having settled in the Scottish Borders, she has since become an activist recognised throughout the Muslim world.
🚨 Yvonne Ridley @yvonneridley makes her first video appearance since being released from Israel
She thanks people for their support, apologises to the children of Gaza & says she’d rather spend 2 months in a Taliban prison than 2 days with the Israelis
🗣️ ‘We will sail again’ pic.twitter.com/VKusIMRC8g
— Lucy Jackson (@LucyAJackson_) October 8, 2025
After being taken into custody by Israel last week, she was imprisoned with others in the notorious Ketziot prison, where activists reported being subject to degrading conditions, torture, and a lack of access to food and water, among other things.
Concerns had been raised about Ms Ridley’s health after the Israelis took her medicine from her and she went on hunger strike.
She criticised the UK Government for refusing to pay for her to be repatriated to the UK. Instead she was flown by private jet by the Libyan government to Tripoli, where the boat she had been travelling on as part of the flotilla had previously docked.
Freedom
In a video she said: “I just want to thank every single one of you who campaigned, who prayed, who petitioned, who protested for the freedom of myself and my fellow flotilla crew members.
“It’s wonderful just to be away from that horrible prison and with my husband in Istanbul.
“I have a solid knot in my heart for the little girl from Gaza who was waiting on the beach every day saying that she was looking out for our sails, looking out for us, and all she wanted was a bar of chocolate. We didn’t deliver and I’m so sad for her and all the children in Gaza.
“That was the reason for our mission. We just wanted to open a humanitarian corridor on the Mediterranean Sea so that we could get our aid into Gaza. I’m sorry we failed you. But I think it was Nelson Mandela who said: ‘Look at your failures and it’s how you pick yourself up afterwards that matters. So guess what – we are already talking about sailing again, and come hell or high water we are going to sail into Gaza.
“We’re more determined than ever, in spite of the horrible treatment by the Israelis. On another note, many of you who know me know that I spent 11 days in prison under the Taliban regime in 2001. But I’ll tell you something now, and this is straight from the heart: I would rather spend two months in a Taliban prison than two days with the Israelis. The Israelis were savage, they were brutal, they were misogynistic, the women prison officers were part of the patriarchy and they made our lives utter hell. So that’s something to think about – that I would rather do two months in Afghanistan than one more day in Israel.”
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “The FCDO supported a number of British nationals involved in the Global Sumud Flotilla who have now left Israel.”
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Praise be to Allah, she is safe now.
So, in your opinion, innocent civilians in a war zone are undeserving of nourishment which she was bring them?
The only people who would “pillor” her are weak, hate filled individuals who haven’t got an ounce of courage to do anything as brave as what this lady did. Most of those “pilloring” individuals lead dormant boring lives, glued to their couches and getting up to go shopping for food is an adventure for them. Useless creatures.
The hate filled individual that you have mentioned are glued to their couches either watching GB News or reading hateful Far Right Social Media Memes on their phones. As was mentioned in the News Today Hate Crimes are at an all time high.This is no surprise when you hear comments from Robert Jenrick and even Starmer has pandered to the Far Right with his Island of Strangers remark.
“Frightening lack of self awareness”?
She has first hand experience. Which is way more than many others can say.
She was commenting on the state of Israeli prisons. Which quite frankly, are worse than you might expect for a country considered to be developed.
Very true.
A few points about Yvonne Ridley’s actions and subsequent statements: She was kidnapped. Her ship was in international waters, and protected from violence by international law, when it was boarded by armed men who took her against her will and without legal authority or legal cause. She was travelling to Gaza, a part of Palestine which is recognised as an independent state by the U.K. She was not going there to fight, but to deliver aid, along with aid workers, journalists, writers, scholars, and members of various European parliaments. Such people have every legal right to enter war zones, and… Read more »
Uk is complicit with the genocidal evil zionist government. Of course they should give her a flight home. Least they can do
Of course Starmer and his inner circle deny that a Genocide is happening by parroting that we have recognized Palestine.When at the same time the RAF have been helping the IDF with Surveillance flights over Gaza.
They should have done. She’s a british citizen who at the time had no means of her own. If the Foreign Office doesn’t help British Citizens, then they have no purpose and further the British Passport holds no purpose. Every other nation takes responsibility for its citizens.
Well, not many people can say that they have been imprisoned by both Israeli forces and the Taliban.
True.
This comment has an air of falsehood about it. You wouldn’t expect her to say anything else bearing in mind her background and the Stockholm Syndrome style outcome of her Taliban detention. I suspect she quite disturbed and damaged and has to have her comments taken very carefully.
That’s a pretty damning set of statements. You declare her suffering from Stockholm Syndrome under the influence of the Taliban. I wonder whether such a person would them quote patriarchy as an evil. While your assertion to hold comments by any person to be taken carefully is generally valid, this case may highlight your own prejudices rather than her’s.