PBI-Canada observes emergency rally calling for the release of Gaza flotilla participants held in Israeli custody
Photo: Emergency gathering outside the Prime Minister of Canada’s office, October 8, 2025.
Peace Brigades International-Canada welcomes the release of Indigenous land defender Mskwaasin Agnew from Israeli custody.
Radio Canada reports that Cree/Dene land defender Mskwaasin Agnew has been released and is now in Türkiye after the Gaza aid flotilla she was participating in was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military on October 8.
Social media post from Toronto Indigenous Harm Reduction.
On October 8, PBI-Canada observed an emergency rally outside the Prime Minister of Canada’s office in downtown Ottawa that called for the release of Agnew and all other human rights defenders from Israeli custody.
A United Nations media release has explained: “The Conscience, the flagship vessel of this Flotilla was carrying 92 passengers, including journalists, health and care workers, and other human rights defenders, sailing to break Israel’s siege and blockade of Gaza. Sixteen of those were international journalists from 10 countries.”
Two Canadians released, subjected to “psychological torture”
The Radio Canada article adds that two Canadians, activist Khurram Musti Khan and epidemiologist Nima Machouf, have also been released.
Radio Canada quotes Machouf saying: “We were attacked at sea, in international waters by the Israeli army. They landed with two black helicopters in the middle of the night, they arrested us and took us to the port of Ashdod.”
Machouf further notes that she and others were subjected to “psychological torture” while in detention at Israel’s Ketziot prison.
Three Canadians continue to be held
David Heap, a spokesperson for the Canadian Boat to Gaza group, says with the release of Agnew, Machouf and Khan from prison: “That leaves three Canadians still in prison [and] illegally detained in Israel, and in very difficult conditions.”
Those three are Devoney Ellis, Sadie Mees and Nikita Stapleton.
A 5-minute CBC News interview, posted on October 3, with Devoney, Sadie and Nikita can also be seen here.
Video: (from left to right) Devoney Ellis, Sadie Mees and Nikita Stapleton.
Human rights defenders under attack
Last month, the London, UK-based organization Global Witness noted: “In 2024, two separate international court rulings cited that a case of genocide in Gaza was plausible and ordered Israel to cease military actions aimed at destroying the population.”
Global Witness adds: “Documenting killings and disappearances of land and environmental defenders within these contexts is challenging and has not been possible for 2024. To do so in the future, it is vital to situate the work of Palestinian defenders within the wider struggle for self-determination and their land and environmental rights.”
In May 2025, the Dublin-based organization Front Line Defenders (the International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) also acknowledged: “In some regions and countries, including Palestine, the documentation of cases is highly challenging, if not virtually impossible.”
Despite this, Front Line Defenders documented the killing of 31 Palestinian human rights defenders in 2023 and 2024.
They further note: “Those defending the right to health and the right to life as doctors, nurses, or ambulance workers, those exposing and documenting war crimes as journalists, and those providing humanitarian support as volunteers or employees of aid agencies were all specifically targeted by Israeli bombs or guns.”
Further reading: PBI-Guatemala observes march in Guatemala City that denounces the ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza (October 6, 2025).
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