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Palestinian engineer kidnapped in Ukraine, to appear in Israel court

01 April 2011 22:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. On a cold, dark night a man is kidnapped from a train by two men, allegedly foreign agents, who seize him from his carriage and spirit him out of the country, APA reports quoting ABC.

No, it’s not a Graham Greene, an Eric Ambler or an Alan Furst, it’s a true story that happened in February in the Ukraine.

The kidnapped man is a Palestinian from Gaza suspected of having links to Hamas and information about the disappearance of an Israeli soldier nearly five years ago.

And the kidnap is allegedly the work of Israel spy agency, Mossad.

Middle East correspondent Anne Barker reports.

ANNE BARKER: On the night of February the 18th, Dirar Abu Sisi, the technical director of Gaza’s electricity station, was travelling on an overnight train in the Ukraine. His wife Veronika is Ukrainian - and Abu Sisi was applying for citizenship.

But some time that night, according to train guards, two men came to his carriage and took him away.
Within hours he was put on a plane and flown to Israel and detained at Shikma prison south of Tel Aviv where he’s been ever since.

His lawyer Smadar Ben Natan says she suspects Israeli Mossad agents were behind the kidnap.

SMADAR BEN NATAN: Allegedly Israeli persons were involved even in Ukraine.

ANNE BARKER: What can you tell me then about the nature of that kidnap?

SMADAR BEN NATAN: Well I can tell you that it was a kidnapping with no formal extradition proceedings. And as far as I know with no arrest warrant presented. Just a forceful extraordinary extradition from one country to another.

ANNE BARKER: Is it your understanding then that the Ukrainian authorities were complicit in this kidnap?

SMADAR BEN NATAN: It is very possible that they were complicit with it. It’s very hard to imagine how a person can be kidnapped in such a way and flown from one country to another without some assistance from the local authorities.

ANNE BARKER: The ABC has tried to contact numerous authorities in Israel and the Ukraine without luck, as well as Abu Sisi’s wife Veronika. Israeli authorities simply won’t comment, although they don’t deny it was Israeli agents who kidnapped him.

But they won’t answer questions about the legality or illegality of seizing someone on foreign soil without an arrest warrant, or spiriting them out of the country, without applying for extradition.

The Israeli Prime Minister though, Benjamin Netanyahu, has told Israeli television Abu Sisi is a member of Hamas, which Israel regards as a terrorist organisation and that his detention at least is legal.

"Abu Sisi is from Hamas," he said. "He’s in custody in Israel. He’s being held legally in accordance with all the rules. I can only say that he’s divulged useful information."

(Question from interviewer)

Asked what the information was and whether it relates to the case of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit the Prime Minister wouldn’t say any more.

But Abu Sisi in court yesterday insisted he was innocent and said the allegations against him are all lies. He confirmed he’s been interrogated about Gilad Shalit but he and his lawyer say he knows nothing.

SMADAR BEN NATAN: He’s not a terrorist at all. And he’s not even a Hamas person or member. He’s a professional. He was not a political person in any way, not a military person of course. Living in Gaza you know a lot of things and being in a senior position in the electricity company you know other things. But I don’t think he knew any more than that.

ANNE BARKER: Abu Sisi’s family has now begun court proceedings in the Ukraine to try to force Ukrainian authorities to demand his return from Israel on the grounds he was neither extradited nor expelled.

If that fails, they’ve also appealed to the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations to bring pressure against Israel.

But even if any of them find in Abu Sisi’s favour, it’s questionable whether Israel would comply with the findings.