A Scottish activist is being held in an Israeli prison five days after the country's navy attacked and seized international aid ship the Tali as it headed for the Gaza Strip.

Theresa McDermott, a 41-year-old postal logistics worker from Edinburgh, has been found in Ramleh prison after being removed from the seaborne Lebanese aid mission to Gaza.

The Israeli navy intercepted the ship delivering 60 tons of supplies to the Gaza Strip from Lebanon on Thursday, viewed as the latest bid to defy Israel's blockade of the militant-held territory.

The Free Gaza Movement, which has successfully sent several boatloads of activists to Gaza in the past, said that while most passengers and crew were released the same day, Ms McDermott was not.

There had been no word about Ms McDermott's whereabouts until Sunday, when she called her brother John in Scotland to say she was in Ramleh prison.

"No information has been provided by Israeli officials about why Theresa has been detained, what the charges are - if any - and why her detention was concealed," said a spokesman for the Free Gaza Movement.

"When the British Consulate in Israel was contacted for assistance in finding Theresa, staff refused to help locate Theresa saying they couldn't provide assistance to a UK citizen unless she personally requested it.

"Members of the Scottish Parliament including Pauline McNeil and Hugh O'Donnell, who were part of a delegation to Gaza are working with the British government to ensure that Theresa receives the protection and assistance to which she is entitled."

The movement said the Scottish post office worker was a "respected, long-time human rights activist".

By MARTIN WILLIAMS (Glasgow Herald)