Nobel peace laureate Mairead Maguire has been sent to an Israeli jail after she refused to go back upon being denied entry to Tel Aviv, Israeli officials say.
Maguire from Ireland was blocked from entering Israel and arrested at an airport in Tel Aviv on Tuesday because she had taken part in an attempt to break the crippling Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli authorities, however, could not manage to send her back to Britain.
The 66-year old activist is now fighting a legal battle over her right to enter Israel and would challenge the ruling at a full court hearing in Tel Aviv on Friday morning.
Maguire, who won the peace prize in 1976 for her work with the Peace People, traveled to Israel to lead a delegation of women on a week-long tour of Israel and the Palestinian territories to highlight the work of women peace activists.
Maguire was one of the 19 activists onboard the Irish-owned ship, the Rachel Corrie, trying to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza in June, a week after Israeli forces attacked a Turkish-flagged aid flotilla, killing nine civilian activists.
Maguire's arrest comes as Israeli navy intercepts the Irene, another aid ship bounding for Gaza. The latest boat that tried to break Israel's deadly blockade of Gaza carried seven Jewish activists and two journalists.
The passengers of the Irene have refuted Israel's claims of non-violent takeover, saying they were treated harshly when Israeli troops seized their vessel.
