French MPs on hunger strike after their detainment in 'Israel'
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Four French deputies detained by "Israel" after joining the Global Sumud Flotilla have launched a hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinians.
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French far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon listens to France Unbowed party parliament member Mathilde Panot during a demonstration after a Gaza-bound aid flotilla was illegally raided by the IOF, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Paris (AP)
Four French deputies detained by "Israel" after its raid on the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla have now declared a hunger strike, according to the French Unbowed party.
France Unbowed member of the European Parliament, Manon Aubry, told French radio station Franceinfo Sunday that they have no news from the detained members apart from brief exchanges with their lawyers and with the French consul who was able to visit them. She said their detention conditions are difficult and described more than 10 people per cell, with difficulty in accessing water.
The French party announced Saturday that two of its national deputies, Francois Piquemal and Marie Mesmeur, along with two of its MEPs, Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau, had declared a hunger strike in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Aubry called on French authorities to repatriate their nationals detained by "Israel".
'It is time for France to finally take action'
Aubry said, "It is time for France to finally take action," while echoing her party's national coordinator, Manuel Bompard's calls for "France to finally say something" on French television channel LCI.
France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon on Saturday slammed "the cowards of the French government" while pointing out that detained nationals from several other countries have already been returned home from "Israel". "(French) deputies are ignored by their assemblies. Let us all remember this," he wrote on X.
Former Macron minister and current MEP Nathalie Loiseau countered that "France is doing what it needs to do" and "is providing consular protection to its citizens who were part of this flotilla," while she called France Unbowed's involvement in the flotilla "troubling".
