Activist arrives home after release from Israeli prison

Mohd Afandi Salleh says he felt like he was in a war zone when his ship was captured off the Gaza waters.

Mohd Afandi Salleh with his family members after arriving at KLIA last night. (Bernama pic)

SEPANG: The Malaysian representative in a humanitarian mission to Gaza who was detained by Israeli troops said he felt like he was in a war zone when the flotilla ship Al-Awda, which was carrying medicines, was captured 49 nautical miles from the Gaza waters.

Mohd Afandi Salleh, who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) last night, said the ship was surrounded by 12 Israeli naval vessels including three warships.

He told reporters that all equipment which could be seen as a threat was thrown out into the sea.

“I even threw out the forks because I did not want the Israeli soldiers to feel threatened. However, our ship was still surrounded by soldiers armed with machine guns and ordered to sail into Israeli waters,” he said.

The deputy dean of the Law and International Relations Faculty of Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, who lives in Terengganu, arrived in Malaysia at 7.40pm after being released on Monday.

He had been detained in the Givon Prison for about 36 hours. -FMT