“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs [MNE] organized and completed all procedures to ensure that the national citizens who were part of the flotilla can return to Portugal, if all goes well, later today,” stated the same source.
According to the MNE, “the definitive confirmation that everything went as planned is expected by mid-afternoon today.”
The coordinator of Bloco de Esquerda, Mariana Mortágua, actress Sofia Aparício, and activists Miguel Duarte and Diogo Chaves have been detained since Wednesday to Thursday night last week, when Israeli forces intercepted most of the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
According to Portuguese diplomacy, the definitive confirmation of their return “can only be given, however, when all are on board the plane.”
“This has been the procedure used by Israeli authorities in other cases [of activists of other nationalities]”, the same MNE source explained, who deferred more information about the arrival of the four activists until final confirmation is available.
