Kara: Israeli Beduin should be released along with Grapel

Ouda Tarabin has been in an Egyptian prison for over a decade; Grapel to be released later this week, Arab media reports.

By LAHAV HARKOV
ayoub kara 311 (photo credit: Courtesy)
ayoub kara 311
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Deputy Regional Development Minister Ayoub Kara (Likud) asked US Ambassador Dan Shapiro on Sunday to demand that Cairo release Ouda Tarabin, along with American-Israeli Ilan Grapel.
Tarabin, an Israeli Beduin shepherd, was arrested after illegally crossing the border into Egypt in late 1999.
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“This is the last chance [to secure Tarabin’s release] before the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood. Everyone knows what they will do and what his fate will be,” the Druse deputy minister said.
Tarabin was sentenced to 15 years in prison under Egypt’s Emergency Law for espionage, a crime his family and the Israeli government say he did not commit.
“It is unthinkable that an Israeli Beduin held prisoner by Egypt will not get the same care as Ilan Grapel and Israeli journalist Yotam Feldman,” Kara said.
According to pan-Arabic daily Al-Hayat, Grapel will be released later this week in exchange for increased US support of Egypt. Grapel was jailed in Egypt nearly four months ago on suspicion of being a Mossad spy.
Feldman is an Israeli journalist who was arrested in 2010 while trying to infiltrate the Sinai border in an effort to gain first-hand experience on the plight of African refugees crossing into Israel. He was released after one week in prison.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.


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