A Canadian detained during a deadly raid on a flotilla of ships bound for Gaza says he was roughed up and held incommunicado by the Israelis.
Rifat Audeh, from St. Catharines, Ont., was one of three Canadians on board the flotilla headed for Gaza when the convoy was stopped and the ships boarded by Israeli security forces.
"The Israeli vessels and helicopters attacked us at night," he told CTV News Channel in a telephone interview from Jordan.
"They beat many of us up; they tied up our hands; we were not allowed to go to the washrooms; we were not allowed to sleep or move; we were barely given anything to eat."
Audeh said that when he and his fellow activists were finally taken off the ship, the largest of the vessels in the flotilla, the Israelis took them straight to a prison.
"They took us to a prison, all of the passengers, without any charge, and they cut us off from the outside world," he said. "We could not phone any lawyers, our families -- nobody knew where we were."
"It was very barbaric and inhumane treatment."
Nine people died when Israeli troops boarded the ships in international waters. The flotilla was carrying aid supplies to the Gaza strip, which has been under a blockade by Israel because of repeated rocket attacks from the Palestinian territory.
Audeh said dozens of the 600 activists on board his ship were wounded in the melee that followed the boarding of the vessel.
"I was injured due to the fact that they tied me up, they blindfolded me and they threw me on the deck even though I was unarmed," he said. "And they beat quite a number of us up actually as well."
Israel has claimed its troops were attacked by passengers on the ship wielding clubs, chains, axes and some firearms and said its soldiers were defending themselves.
Audeh denied those reports, calling the Israeli accusations "ridiculous."
"The real question is what was the Israeli navy doing way out in international waters attacking a humanitarian ship?"
Audeh said the flotilla's sole aim was to bring humanitarian relief to the Gaza Strip, an impoverished area that has been under tight blockades from both Israel and Egypt since 2007.
He was deported from Israel to Jordan, where he is now staying with his parents and said he plans to return to Canada "fairly soon."
The remainder of the nearly 700 activists, including two other Canadians, are expected to be deported from Israel by day's end, the government said Wednesday.
Reports identify the other Canadians as Kevin Neish and Farooq Burney.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has not named any of the Canadians, citing the federal privacy law.
But it confirmed the release of one and said at least one other Canadian has been transported to the airport.
"Based on the latest information available, we understand that these detainees will be en route to Turkey sometime today. They will then be able to proceed to their desired final destinations, " the department said Wednesday.
It added that officials were working with local authorities to confirm the status of the third Canadian.
Monday's attack came in the midst of Audeh's second aid voyage to the Gaza strip.
The self-styled activist and co-founder of Michigan Media Watch joined a similar flotilla in late 2009 as it made its way through Jordan.
