Like many parents, Máirín and Joe Clancy from Lower Taylors Hill travelled to Dublin Airport to greet their daughter, Sarah, on her return home this week – but this was no ordinary arrival.

The well-known poet and activist was dressed in clothes given to her by the Irish consulate, having spent time in Israel’s notorious Ktzi’ot Prison – a high-security facility in the Negev desert.

Sarah Clancy was among a group of international activists on the Global Sumud Flotilla seeking to create a humanitarian sea corridor to Gaza.

And while she herself is safely back on home soil to the embrace of her friends and family, Sarah has extreme concern for the ongoing detention of Spanish woman, Reyes Rigo Cervilla.

Having been intercepted at 9pm last Wednesday, it took 14 hours for the Israeli Defence Forces to sail their boat, the Spectre, to Ashdod Port where they disembarked and were filmed by Israeli officials.

“They had zero right to intercept us,” she says.

“We weren’t even inside waters they claim to control. They had no jurisdiction. We never left international waters. It took them 24 hours, with huge manpower, to gather everyone and bring us to Israel.

“The port we were brought to took 14 hours to reach. They had a whole stage performance. It was idiocy.”

Caption: Home…Sarah Clancy.

Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.