Portuguese Activist Ana Margarida Santana Baptista Sits in Libyan Custody Since 18 May as Part of the 71-Person Global Sumud Land Convoy — MNE Tracks the Sirte Tribunal Expulsion Procedure

Portugal's Ministério dos Negócios Estrangeiros confirmed on Monday 25 May that Portuguese national Ana Margarida França Santana Baptista, 50, has been detained in Libya since 18 May as part of the Global Sumud Land Convoy — a humanitarian column attempting to reach the Egypt-Gaza border by road from Mauritania. Minister Paulo Rangel told reporters in Brussels that the Embassy of Portugal in Tunis is providing consular protection and that the activist is expected to be presented to a Libyan court within days for an expulsion order.

The convoy left Mauritania around a month ago carrying 71 participants — doctors, teachers, engineers and journalists drawn from a wider 350-strong contingent of citizens from 30 countries — with the intent of delivering humanitarian materials through the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip. The column was halted in Libya at a checkpoint south of Sirte on the road toward the Egyptian frontier. Activists from Spain, Poland, Italy, Argentina, Uruguay, Portugal, Tunisia and the United States were taken into custody by security forces aligned with the Libyan Arab Armed Forces under Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.

According to the MNE account corroborated by Público, Observador and Notícias ao Minuto, Ms Santana Baptista was not authorised to cross the Egyptian border at one of the verification points in Libyan territory. Cairo's standing rule at that checkpoint admits only Egyptian and Libyan nationals, citing security considerations linked to the active conflict zone on the other side. The Libyan authorities have categorised the group's presence as an administrative infraction rather than a criminal matter, and have signalled that the tribunal step is procedural before deportation.

The case is the second high-profile Gaza-aid detention involving Portuguese nationals in less than two months. In April, members of the maritime Global Sumud Flotilla were intercepted in international waters by Israeli forces and held briefly in Israel before being repatriated; the MNE called the Israeli ambassador in for explanations at the time and Bloco de Esquerda and PCP have tabled parliamentary questions on both episodes. Livre also moved a formal vote of condemnation through the Assembleia da República's foreign-affairs committee earlier in May.

Minister Rangel, asked on the margins of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, said the government's posture is to provide consular assistance and facilitate a safe return without entering the political debate over whether Portuguese citizens should be participating in unauthorised humanitarian convoys into active conflict zones. The MNE briefing line, repeated to RTP, is that the case is being followed "permanently and in close contact with the families."

The Sumud movement has emphasised that the convoy is civilian and carries no political mandate, framing itself as a citizen response to what its organisers describe as the obstruction of conventional humanitarian aid routes into Gaza. Its land-route attempt through North Africa was always likely to encounter checkpoint friction; Libya in particular operates a fragmented border-security architecture, with the western Tripoli government and the eastern Tobruk-aligned forces under Haftar enforcing differing access criteria along the Mediterranean coast road.

Portuguese diplomats expect Ms Santana Baptista's expulsion to be completed via a return flight to Lisbon or to a third country in the coming days. Sources: Público, Observador, RTP, Notícias ao Minuto, MNE briefing.