June 22, 2010

The Dutch Foreign Ministry informed Amin abu Rashed, the coordinator of the "European Campaign to Lift the Siege on Gaza", who was present on the freedom flotilla, that they will pay all expenses of a lawsuit which he filed together with another Hollandese citizen against the Israeli authorities because of their abduction in the international water from the ships of the freedom flotilla on May 31 2010.

Abu Rashed stated in a press conference that he and Ms. Anne de Jong filed a lawsuit against the Israeli government on last Thursday June 17 2010, and that a lawyer specialized in the international laws has presented their complaints, because they were kidnapped at sea and detained without a lawyer. He added that they will ask for a compensation for the moral and the material damage which was done to them during the abduction from aboard the ships in international waters.

Abu Rashed pointed out that less than 24 hours after they filed the lawsuit against the Israeli authorities, the Dutch Foreign Ministry informed them that it would bear all expenses of lawsuit. He added that the Dutch government had been following the news about their abduction, and that the Dutch Consul had welcomed them at the airport in Istanbul. He offered them all the assistance to secure their return to the Netherlands, where they were greeted at the airport of Amsterdam by some representatives of the Dutch government.