El Ciudadano
Original article: “La ayuda humanitaria no es delito”: activistas del Convoy Sumud Maghreb recuperan libertad tras retención en Libia
In recent hours, the last 10 activists of the Sumud Maghreb Ground Convoy Sumud Maghreb deported from Eastern Libya regained their freedom. They had been detained on May 24 in Benghazi while en route to Gaza with humanitarian aid.
According to Noticias de América Latina y el Caribe (NODAL), «the six individuals who remained in Benghazi were deported in the latest hours via Istanbul, completing the exit of the entire international delegation of the Sumud Maghreb Ground Convoy from Libya.»
Among those released are Argentine citizens Paula Giménez, a psychologist, and Lucas Aguilera, a veterinarian, both research directors at Nodal, who were part of the medical team in the humanitarian mission assisting the Palestinian people.
Also freed were Spaniard Alicia Armesto, Tunisian Achraf Khoja, Portuguese Ana Margarida França Santana Baptista, Italians Domenico Centrone and Leonarda «Dina» Alberizia, American Jenelle Jones, Uruguayan Matías Álvarez, and Polish Laura Kwoczała-Alsubaih.
The caravan, consisting of 230 participants from 21 countries, was transporting ambulances, medicines, and mobile homes for the Gazan population. They began their journey in Tunisia, aiming to cross through Libya and Egypt to reach the Rafah crossing and enter Palestinian territory, to protest the Israeli blockade and deliver humanitarian aid. However, authorities in Eastern Libya blocked their passage.
In response, a delegation of ten members of the caravan headed to a checkpoint near Sirte to negotiate safe passage for the convoy through Libya, but all contact with the activists was lost from that moment onward.
After a week of being cut off, on June 2 they were presented before the General Prosecutor in Benghazi, but instead of regaining their freedom, their detention was indefinitely extended until yesterday, Tuesday, June 24.
They assert that international solidarity cannot be criminalized.
NODAL emphasized that the freedom regained by the ten activists held in Eastern Libya represents a «victory of international solidarity, driven by pressure from families, social organizations, political bodies, unions, humanitarian groups, human rights advocates, and everyone who demanded their safe return and immediate freedom.»
«We celebrate that María Paula Giménez, Lucas Aguilera, and the rest of the international delegation have regained their freedom and begun their journey home,” stated a press release.
However, they clarified that “they should never have been kidnapped, detained, or criminalized for participating in a civil and humanitarian mission aimed at facilitating aid entry into Gaza.”
They also noted that «the freedom of the ten individuals does not erase the seriousness of what occurred,” reminding everyone that “they were arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for weeks, away from their families and subjected to extreme uncertainty.”
«Humanitarian Aid is Not a Crime»
According to NODAL, this incident must not go unpunished or forgotten. They demanded that the «Argentine state guarantees all necessary conditions for Paula Giménez and Lucas Aguilera to return home safely, providing the consular, health, psychological, and logistical assistance required, as is their obligation.»
Beyond their return home, they assert that this case leaves an inescapable lesson: «humanitarian aid is not a crime», and the persecution of those attempting to provide assistance to besieged populations cannot be normalized or accepted.
«Today we embrace the ten, their families, and everyone who supported this struggle,” they stated, emphasizing that their commitment extends beyond immediate liberation: it reaches «until the end of genocide in Palestine» and «until the Palestinian people and all peoples of the world can live in peace, freedom, and dignity!»
La entrada «Humanitarian Aid is Not a Crime»: Activists from Convoy Sumud Maghreb Regain Freedom After Detention in Libya se publicó primero en El Ciudadano.
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