A group of activists from various pro-Palestine organisations visited Robben island on Sunday.
“It’s the first time I’m going to visit a jail freely,” German activist Yasemin Acar, a member of the Global Sumud Flotilla‘s steering committee, told GroundUp on Sunday.
She was part of a group from the Gaza flotilla visiting Robben Island, where thousands of anti-apartheid activists were held over time. Acar, along with other members of the flotilla, was detained by Israeli authorities last year for their attempt to break the siege on Gaza.
“There’s a lot of imprisonment in Germany if you are in solidarity with Palestinians,” Acar told GroundUp. (See UN experts urge Germany to halt criminalisation and police violence against Palestinian solidarity activism)
“It’s 2026 and we are talking about an open-air prison in Gaza … the world continues to keep silent.”
Acar said more than 500 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the ceasefire in October.
The group are calling for “the immediate and unconditional” release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds of children.
Fatima Hendricks, a South African occupational therapist and health care worker, who was jailed in Israel for six days for her participation in the flotilla, said they were calling for the release of political prisoners like Marwan Barghouti.
Barghouti, who has been jailed since 2002, is a senior political leader and is often called “Palestine’s Nelson Mandela”. There have been growing calls from around the world for his release.
Parts of an open letter by various Pro-Palestine organisations were read aloud outside Nelson Mandela’s former cell.
“Many are imprisoned without charge or trial under so-called administrative detention, an apartheid-era practice chillingly familiar to South Africans. When charges are laid, Palestinians face military courts designed to secure convictions, not justice.”
“Extreme suffering, systematic abuse, starvation, and medical neglect are institutional and policy-driven, in direct contravention of international humanitarian and international human rights law,” read the letter.
Jama Matakata, an ex-political prisoner on Robben Island, said he was impressed by the group. “When it comes to Robben Island, I have mixed feelings. It’s a reminder of a journey of sad memories. When it comes to this specific task, I am very happy. Those are the memories I want to keep,” he said.
During a briefing at the Nelson Mandela Foundation last week, Global Sumud Flotilla members announced plans to embark on another mission to end the blockade on Gaza on 29 March.
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The #JusticeForMinorities movement advocates for the rights of minority groups in South Africa.
LifeRobber
Saudi Arabia: You have two cows. Because they are not allowed to be around bulls.
Jersey
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty improbable guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.