Woman threatened with jail for taking humanitarian aid to Gaza
A woman has been threatened with 12 months in prison for taking part in the Global Sumud Flotilla which attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza earlier this year.
Hannah Schafer, 62, was First Officer on a 48 foot yacht which left Barcelona at the end of August to sail to Gaza.
She was one of more than 500 sailors who gathered from all over the world to sail in the Flotilla.
Amongst their number were parliamentarians, singers, influencers, comedians, journalists and others including Susan Sontag, Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela.
Of the 50 plus boats which set sail from various ports on the Mediterranean, more than 40 overcame technical difficulties, rough weather, sabotage and being firebombed by drones to come close to reaching their destination and delivering their aid.
But the boats were illegally intercepted by Israeli gunboats in international waters and their crews were forced to sail to Israel at gunpoint.
Hannah was held in detention for five days before being deported to Jordan.
She was summonsed to Aberystwyth Magistrates Court, charged with breaches of her sentencing order related to her participation in the Flotilla.
The Probation Service is requesting that she be made to serve the 12 month suspended sentence she was given for her part in an action at Heathrow Airport last year, despite the fact that she hasn’t broken any laws. Hannah denies all the charges against her and the hearing was adjourned until January 29.
Punished
She said: “I can’t believe I’m being punished for trying to deliver food and medical aid to people who are living through famine and genocide” said Hannah.
“I was given 180 hours of community service and can’t think why our justice system doesn’t see what I was doing as being part of that service. Even if they can’t stretch to allowing me to count the hours towards my sentence you’d think at least they’d applaud me for taking action in a positive, constructive and legal manner.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
It’s because Keir Scummer is complicit in war crimes.
She was found guilty for the offence of ‘public nusance’ at a Just Stop Oil protest at Heathrow airport and given a suspended prison sentence. A condition is that you don’t leave the country while the suspension still applies and complete the community service hours. The reason for the breach, the Gaza flotilla, is not relevant. The Liverpool Echo tells us that she is a resident of Wavertree in Liverpool, so why is it she was summoned to Aberystwyth Magistrates Court?
Ah, of course. The devil is in the detail. “You can’t arrest me, I’m frightfully middle class…”