UK director slams Israel for ill-treatment of peace activist

British film and television director Ken Loach has condemned the reported misbehavior towards a Bristol-based peace activist at the hands of his Israeli captors.

Tom Woodhead, the first aid trainer with the British Red Cross, was arrested in Palestine more than a week ago following a protest in the occupied West Bank and is now being held in Givon Detention Centre.

In a statement given from the Israeli prison, the activist described how he along with two other Palestinians were lined up against a wall while Israeli soldiers cocked their rifles for a “mock execution.”

Loach said Woodhead’s treatment should “disgust all right-thinking people,” adding, “How can our government still have diplomatic relations with a state that consistently shows contempt for international law and the Geneva Convention?”

Earlier in February, the director also urged everyone to join the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which campaigns for peace and justice for the Palestinians, in support of international law, human rights and against all racism.

More than 4,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, many of whom are being held without charge or trials and are subjected to ill-treatment and torture.