Detained and desperate

A Kiwi imprisoned after Israeli forces intercepted the Gaza aid flotilla sent an unusual message home.

- BY DAVE CRAMPTON

Deep in an Israeli prison, Samuel Leason thought long and hard about what message he could send his parents back home in Ōtaki that would reassure them he was okay. He wasn't okay. The flotilla he joined to deliver aid to the starving people of Gaza had been intercepted by the Israelis and the 18-year-old was in Ketziot Prison in southern Israel. He was hungry, having had very little food, he'd been treated "like an animal" by the guards. It was day three of his incarceration and he had just one shot at communicating with his family via the British High Commission, so he wrote: "When I get home, can I have nachos?"

"At that point I was a bit scared, and I was very hungry. It was definitely a very rough time, but I didn't want my family back home to be too worried about me."

Leason describes himself as a Catholic anarchist – someone who "follows their conscience and the wisdom of the church" and is "not under the authority of anyone else". He jumped at the chance to do something – anything – to help the people of Gaza. He was on a gap year after leaving Kapiti College last year and became one of three New Zealanders, and the youngest of 462 activists from 44 different countries, who were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla of more than 40 vessels on a mission to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid.

He flew to Barcelona in August and joined the mission after a few days' training and preparation, shaking hands with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg along the way. He says he slept in a parking building near the harbour to be close to the preparations.