Mandela: “Saudi detainee transferred to the Negev detention camp”

Tuesday October 21, 2008 18:47 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Lawyer Bothaina Douqmaq, head of the Mandela Institute for Defending the Detainees, reported on Tuesday that Israeli Prison Authorities transferred Saudi detainee Abdul-Rahman Mohammad Al Otewy to the Negev detention camp along with seven other detainees from Sudan, Algeria and the Ivory Coast.

File - Negev Prison

Al Otewy was detained on March 5, 2005 after infiltrating Egyptian borders and was sentenced to 3 months in prison. The Israeli court decided to deport him after he served his term.

He carried repeated hunger strikes lasting two or more months in protest of his continued detention.

On October 30, 2007, an Israeli court decided that Al Otewy would be released and deported him on April 30, 2008 but no neighboring country agreed to receive him.

Douqmaq said that the Israeli Central Court ruled on October 30, 2007 that Al Otewy should be released on April 30. 2008 and gave Israel six months to find a country that would agree to host him.

When Israel failed to release him, Al Otewy filed another appeal to be released without preconditions but the court rejected the appeal and claimed that he is not cooperating with UN observers.

Douqmaq stated that the case is now in the hands of the central court in Tel Aviv awaiting further legal measures and appeals.

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