Manchester resident and human rights activist Adie Mormech has this afternoon been seized by the Israeli military in international waters near the coast of Gaza.

Mr Mormech, aged 30 and from Rusholme, was a crew member on humanitarian aid boat, 'Spirit of Humanity', which was on its way to deliver medical supplies to Gaza. The Spirit was halted this morning by Israeli warships, and received threats that it would be fired upon.

Sir Gerald Kaufman (Gorton), Mr. Mormech's MP, is raising the matter with the Foreign Office and hopes to speak on the matter at Prime Minister's Question Time.

Mr Mormech is among 21 human rights activists from the Free Gaza campaign onboard the boat, including Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire and former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney. All are now being forcibly taken towards Israel

See BBC article about this incident.

Over 200 people signed the STWC Troops Out of Afghanistan! petition in Manchester on Armed Forces Day last Saturday. Activists from Military Families Against the War helped lead the petitioning.

Many from military backgrounds stopped and signed, others stopped to discuss the issues at the Stop the War stall.

'My son is on his third tour now, after Iraq, now he is in Afghanistan. If he knew we had signed this petition he would go mad, but it is all wrong. We should get out. Afghanistan has got nothing to do with us.', explained one mother with her friend.

'I served over 15 years in the army, the first Gulf War, Bosnia, Iraq. When I got out I got no help with finding a job, a place to live. Once you leave they forget you. We should definitely get out of Afghanistan.'

'My husband did 20 years in the forces. There were special hospitals for soldiers then, but now they have closed them all. Iraq was not our war, nor is Afghanistan'.

One former soldier from the military police told how he had lost seven of his fiends in Iraq. ''The Iraq war was wrong, everyone knows that. But in Afghanistan I am not so sure. We are there to stop the heroin which is hurting people at home.' This was the most common reason given for continuing the war in Afghanistan.

An official enquiry into the war on Iraq has finally been announced. It will be held in secret.

"This is outrageous! They cover up every thing all the time, treating us like idiots. It is so blatant." 

 Karla Ellis who lost her brother in Iraq. 

 

Comments (1)

"From the minute I heard the dreadful news of the death of my brother, I couldn't help feeling something wasn't right, and after the inquest, I feel it even stronger. The war was founded on lies, we are not wanted over there, and it seems as though Lee was an open target."

Sister Karen Ellis, Miltary Families Against the War

Lee Ellis, 2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, from Wythenshaw, was killed in Al Amarah, Iraq, in 2006.

There were 197 British soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq, as well as 2.400 US troops and over 1 million Iraqi people

I lost my little brother on the 28th of February 2006, I say little, he was two years younger than me but 6 foot 2, and 15 stone of a very handsome and kind man!