A detained Birmingham activist has shared his 'vile' experience aboard a humanitarian mission to Gaza, describing the 'hardest part' of his ordeal. Hasnain Jafer, 23, was on the Global Sumud Flotilla when it was intercepted in international waters by Israeli naval forces last month.
The activists were held and sexual assault allegations, including rape, were reported by the news agency Reuters, while Hasnain alleged torture took place. Reporting the allegations, the BBC said it had not been able to independently verify them, and the claim was denied by Israel's prison service.
With no communication with his family, Hasnain said he faced a mental battle to overcome the 'brutal experience'. He told BirminghamLive: 'I didn't have time to be nervous or scared, the experience was brutal and vile. The hardest part for me was coming to grips with why we were there. When you're going through torture and what took place, you do begin to delve into your thoughts. You do start to think 'why me?' but that's where you find your true self. I wasn't there for myself, I wasn't there for publicity, it was purely because we had a mission and good intentions. There still are good intentions and it's about manifesting and acting on those. We will not stop, we will not rest until justice and truth prevails. Simple.'
During Hasnain's detainment, his father Jeff Jafer told BirminghamLive his son was 'one soul in a trillion'. Hasnain was among the activists who were released and deported back to their home countries on May 21. With the Jafer family reunited on home soil, Jeff spoke of his 'lion' son, but admitted relatives were 'petrified'. He said: 'We thought about the worst-case scenario. We were petrified, our world changed in those four days. We've learnt a lot and opened many eyes. The message I've learnt to give continuously is be good, do good, get good done. We have no room for anything else. Good people should be good and speak up. Not just on the Gaza flotilla, but anywhere in the world where innocent people are dying. We should be protecting and preserving the human race, everyone should be valued and contribute to society. It's been very emotional and now we're concentrating on regaining our lives, getting back to normality and getting this lion of a man back to normal life.'
Asked if Hasnain would return on a similar mission, he said: 'I know what my family's response is going to be. My answer is this: we will wait and see what happens.'
