Green Party holds press conference with whānau of NZ citizens detained by Israel

The Green Party will be holding a press conference with whānau of the New Zealand citizens detained by Israel after a flotilla was intercepted as it approached Gaza.

The family of Rana Hamida, Youssef Sammour, and Kiwi teenager Samuel Leason will speak with Greens co-leaders Chlöe Swarbrick and Marama Davidson at Ellen Melville Center in Auckland.

The press conference will be live streamed from the top of this file at 11am today.

The father of a Kiwi teen detained in Israel who had been part of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla claims his son has been roughed up and mistreated.

Adi Leason, the father of Samuel Leason, said British diplomats had spoken with his son and relayed that, “as expected”, he had not been treated well.

“The British got diplomats in and managed to get to visit and see some of the flotilla participants, and they found Samuel and spoke to him, checked on his wellbeing, his health,” Adi said.

“He had been roughed up, treated badly, as expected. He’s in a horrible environment.”

Samuel Leason was on board one of the boats in the flotilla, which was intercepted by Israel as it approached Gaza, attempting to break the Israeli naval blockade.

He is in detention alongside two other New Zealanders who were also on board the flotilla.

Leason told Herald NOW’s Ryan Bridge that “with any luck”, his son will be deported via a chartered flight to London within the next few days.

When he returns home, he’d be met with a big hug from his family, who were “going to celebrate a young man following his conscience”.

Samuel Leason (middle) with his mother and father. Photo / Supplied

Leason said that the British consulate passed on a message from Samuel to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), which made its way to his parents, which was: “When I get home, can I have nachos?”

Samuel’s compassion, concern and awareness drew him to the cause, Adi said.

“You take the side of the underdog and the dispossessed and the crushed, rather than take the side of those committing war crimes and genocide.”

Joining the flotilla was not Samuel’s first attempt to get aid into the war-torn territory, as he spent a couple of months walking across the Sinai desert with 3000 other people carrying milk powder and trying to get supplies into the Rafa gate, he said.

That attempt failed, and now, not having succeeded a second time, will likely leave Samuel feeling “heartbroken”, said Leason.

“I am worried that he’s actually going to be a bit traumatised by shame that he’s had to do what our Government should have been doing.

“I think he’s going to be heartbroken that he got so close, just within inches of that beach, and all of those supplies are probably now at the bottom of the sea.

“And he’s sitting in his cell, I think 11 people crammed into a cage, and he’s sitting there thinking, ‘I failed, we didn’t get the stuff through, and people are going to suffer or worse because we failed at the last hurdle’.”

Leason said Samuel built a “little cabin” and sold it to fund his airfare to the Middle East.