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Swedes demand Israel repair ship after court verdict
Stockholm—Ship to Gaza spokesman Dror Feiler told AFP that the Finnish-flagged Estelle was in Israel’s northern port of Haifa, still afloat but unfit to put to sea. “Last time we had a person who checked the boat, it was maybe one year or nine months ago, the condition of the boat was not good, to put it mildly,” he said in English by phone from his home in Sweden. “It’s in salt water and we don’t know the condition of the engine, we don’t know the condition of the sails,” he said. “We will demand that the boat will be put into seaworthy condition so we can sail.” http://pakobserver.net/2016/08/09/swedes-demand-israel-repair-ship-after-court-verdict/
Estelle captain suspected to have breached the law
The attempt to reach Gaza by sea with the "Estelle" now is becoming a legal case in Finland. The captain Mika Jamia was suspected to have breached rules of maritime safety because there were too many people on board the vessel in 2012. In Sweden, the association Ship to Gaza filed a police complaint against four senior Israeli officers, for the boarding of the "Estelle" in 2012 and the "Mavi Marmara" in 2010. While the "Mavi Marmara" could sail back to Turkey after a few months, the "Estelle" ais still seized by Israel and is docked in Ashdod since Oct 29, 2012.
Estelle owners ask for ministerial help
Turun Sanomat reports that the Foreign Ministry’s Africa and the Middle East department has received a request for assistance from the owners of the Estelle, a cargo vessel crewed by activists who used it in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. The ship was intercepted and impounded by Israeli forces last month. Now the owners want it back, and captain Mika Jämiä told the Turku daily that they have sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Finland’s Transport Safety Agency Trafi for assistance in getting the boat returned. Risto Piipponen, head of the ministry’s Africa and the Middle East department, confirmed to the newspaper that his department had received such a request, and that ministry officials will now make contact with their Israeli counterparts and request that the ship is returned. http://yle.fi/uutiset/ts_gaza_ship_owners_ask_for_ministerial_help/6390285
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