Indian-origin SA Olympian arrested on women's boat to Gaza

Indian-origin South African Olympian is among 13 other women leaders from various countries were briefly arrested by Israeli authorities while they were attempting to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza strip in Palestine.
According to a spokesperson for the group on Women's Boat to Gaza (WBG), Zeenat Adam, the Israeli navy intercepted the Women's Boat to Gaza (WBG) in international waters outside Israeli territory.
Leigh-Ann Naidoo had been a part of a group trying to oppose the blockade on Gaza. She is a political activist and an academic at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
The women include, former Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland, Malaysian doctor Fauziah Hasan and retired US army colonel Ann Wright, all of whom have allegedly not been allowed access to either lawyers or their consulates.

Naidoo's family told media here yesterday that they were deeply concerned for her safety as diplomatic staff from the South African missions in Ramallah and Tel Aviv attempted to gain access.
South African foreign ministry official Nelson Kgwete said his department was aware of the matter and the consulate in Tel Aviv had requested access to Naidoo.

Naidoo has received support from the African National Congress (ANC), which has decried her arrest as "unlawful" and called for her immediate release.
"This arrest is yet another insult to South Africans and an act of hostility, we therefore request, in line with ANC policy and the position stated by president Jacob Zuma in a recent address, that government review its diplomatic relations with Israel," the ANC's Western Cape branch, where Naidoo hails from, said in a statement.

"We repeat our ANC2014 statement on Gaza: "Gaza is the world's largest open air prison with over 1.5 million Palestinians caged inand cut off from the rest of the world," it said.
"The Gaza Strip isthe world's most densely populated piece of land on this earth making theIsraeli bombing of the Palestinian Gaza Strip all the more horrendous. The collectivepunishment and illegal siege of the Palestinian people of Gaza mustimmediately end," the statement said.
According to media reports, the Department of International Relations (Dirco) has confirmed that Leigh-Ann Naidoo has been released by Israeli authorities.
It is believed the activist is currently on her way home.