Suspect’s family: Shin Bet harassing us
Relatives of Palestinian terror suspect say they’ve been forced to make daily trip to military base in order to pressure suspect to turn himself in
Mohammad al-Rimawi, 26, got married recently, yet he has been spending more time with the Shin Bet security service in a military base in the West Bank than with his wife.
Over the last week he has been joining his brother and 55-year-old father at the Ofer military base, every day, from dawn to dusk, although none of them is accused of wrongdoing.
The security services are looking for Mohammad’s 22-year-old younger brother Ali. According to the Shin Bet, Ali is wanted for interrogation, and as long as he hasn’t handed himself over to Israel’s security services, his brother and father will have to do the daily trip from their village near Ramallah to Ofer.
Mohammad, who works in a Palestinian law firm, believes the Shin Bet is blackmailing his brother to give himself in.
3 men handcuffed
Last Wednesday, Mohammad, his brother and father were surprised that security officials did not request they return to the base Thursday morning, as on previous visits. The three returned home happy at the prospect that Thursday will be the first hassle-free day for a while.
Thursday was indeed hassle-free, yet in the evening that day IDF soldiers raided the homes of Mohammad, his brother and father, handcuffed the three men and detained them at the Ofer base from 3 a.m. till Friday evening.
Mohammad complained that his father’s house had been damaged in the raid.
“They accused us of failing to turn up at the base, yet we told the Shin Bet man that we were not ordered to turn up and so far we have been coming here according to instructions to do so,” Mohammad said.
He claimed the Shin Bet told him that if the family does not hand over Ali, security forces will demand that women from the family also come to the base on a daily bases.
Late-night raid
On Friday evening IDF soldiers stormed the houses of Ali’s family members and conducted searches.
According to Mohammad, he told the Shin Bet Ali is being held by the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, but the Israeli agent did not seem to care. According to the family, Ali was detained by Israel twice in the past year.
“Now they want him again and our life is unbearable with the demand to turn up at Ofer,” Mohammad told Ynet.
Approached to comment on the incident the Shin Bet said: “The subject is wanted for membership in the Tanzim (terror group). We have no information that he is detained by the Palestinian Authority.”
