JERUSALEM - The lawyer for a Gazan engineer held under secrecy in Israel accused authorities on Wednesday of concocting charges against him after seizing the Palestinian overseas.
Relatives of Dirar Abu Sisi, a manager of Gaza's main power plant, say he was abducted from a train in Ukraine last month. Israeli officials have confirmed he is in custody but declined further comment, citing court-issued gag orders.
RELATED: Israel: We have Palestinian engineer missing since Feb. 'Mossad snatched me, handcuffed me and hooded me' Ukraine asks Israel for info on Abu Sisi abductionSmadar Ben-Natan, Abu Sisi's attorney, linked his detention to efforts to gather intelligence on Gaza.
"When someone came along who they thought was senior (in Hamas) and was located outside the Gaza Strip, they got their hands on him, without this matter being really justified, in retrospect," Ben-Natan said on Israel's Army Radio.
German newspaper
Der Spiegel on Tuesday quoted an unnamed source as saying Israel may have suspected Abu Sisi of knowing the whereabouts of Gilad Schalit, the captive soldier.
But Ben-Natan said Abu Sisi denies having any connection to Schalit. No mention of the soldier was made in allegations lodged against Abu Sisi by Israeli prosecutors in closed-door remand hearings, she added.
According to sources in Gaza, Abu Sisi was not known to have political affiliations to Hamas.
Ben-Natan did not, in the radio interview, elaborate on the state's suspicions against Abu Sisi. But she said the court sessions had led her to believe "they are trying to cover up the mistake" of seizing him.
"Instead of confessing and saying, 'Sorry, turns out what we thought was a mistake, we are sorry, go home, Sir,' they are trying to find what they can blame him with so that it doesn't became clear this whole matter was one big farce," she said.
Security and justice officials declined to respond.
Abu Sisi was scheduled to appear at another remand hearing on Thursday.
Ben-Natan said she expected to know then "how the state intends to
indict (him), if at all".
The case has further potential to embarrass Israel should it emerge that
Abu Sisi was spirited out of Ukraine without Kiev's approval. The
Palestinian's wife, a native of Ukraine, said he had gone there in a bid
by the family to immigrate from Gaza.
Visiting Israel this month, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said Abu Sisi's disappearance was under investigation.
Asked in a newspaper interview about the possibility that the
Palestinian had been abducted by Israeli agents, Azarov said: "I don't
want to imagine that such things are carried out on the soil of a
friendly state."