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Today’s Zaman photojournalist tried to hide flash disk under his tongue
All the passengers in the convoy including journalists were detained after the Israeli raid. They were released by Israel on Wednesday in the wake of mounting pressure from Turkey and the international community. Returning Turkey in the early hours of Thursday, Bayhan explained how the Israeli attack took place and what happened in the aftermath of it.
Bayhan said the journalists in the ship including him tried to protect the video footage and photos they took and he hided a small flash disk in which he saved the photos he took on the ship under his tongue but it was noticed by an Israeli doctor during a medical examination and was taken away from him.
Bayhan said he was at the deck of the ship at the time of the attack and Israeli soldiers surrounded the aid ship with storm boats and helicopters above and that nobody was expecting Israel to attack the ships with weapons because the aid ship was sailing in the international waters.
Dismissing Israeli claims that the peace activists attacked Israeli soldiers with weapons, Bayhan said there were no weapons on the ship but the activists used sticks, marbles and stuff like that to counter the Israeli soldiers. “After the outbreak of the incidents, we, journalists, were taken to the press room. The sounds of the weapons became louder after a while. It was claimed to be a repercussion bomb. An announcement said there were injured activists on the ship. We later heard that the wheel house was occupied and everyone was told to surrender,” Bayhan said.
In the press room, he said the journalists were made to wait by raising their hands for 1,5 hours and Israeli soldiers were constantly directing laser pointers on their body. “They were ready to open fire at us at any moment,” he said.
All the materials of the press members including their passports and identity cards were taken away, Bayhan said, adding the Israeli helicopters were splashing sea water on the people at the deck, making many of them ill. After their arrival at the Port of Ashdod, Bayhan said intern soldiers welcomed the Israeli commandoes with applause while all those on the ship were handcuffed as if they were prisoners of war.
“They took us out of the ship with handcuffed hands. They took the photo of each of us,” he said.
Bayhan also said some people who were said to have come from the Turkish Embassy in Israel asked some questions to them to make them speak; however, it turned out that those people were not from the Turkish Embassy
Israeli soldiers particularly maltreated the Greece activists and beat them, said Bayhan, adding that a 88-year-old bishop was among those who was pounded by the Israeli soldiers.
There were around 700 people on the ships from dozens of countries that aimed to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza which has been suffering from Israeli blockade for three years.
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