Israeli authorities detained and deported a Scottish businesswoman after denying her entry into the country on Friday.
Yasmina Ferrigan is the business manager for the Edinburgh-based Hadeel store, which specialises in selling Fairtrade Palestinian goods.
She landed at Ben Gurion Airport to visit Palestinian partners who supply wares to Hadeel. Her itinerary included observing conditions on the ground, discovering new producers, and establishing fresh supply networks.
Security personnel blocked her arrival instead, placing her in an immigration detention centre for at least five hours.
Describing the ordeal to the Scottish daily The National, Ferrigan called the incident the worst and most vile experience of her life. "They have no respect for human life," she said. "They have no respect for dignity."
During her detention, interrogators accused the South African-born activist of supporting Hamas and being a terrorist. They also claimed she belonged to Palestine Action.
Ferrigan has lived in Scotland for the past 25 years. She stated that security personnel told her she should have faced arrest much earlier.
According to her account, officers told her that she should not exist and needed to be eliminated, adding that authorities were actively watching her.
"It is a systematic breakdown and crippling of the Palestinian economy," she said regarding the refusal of entry.
She said border officials understood she was travelling as a Hadeel employee to conduct trade with communities in the occupied territories.
