Shin Bet releases professor suspected of spying for Hezbollah

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"The Shin Bet and police on Sunday released without charges Professor Ghazi Falah, an Israeli-Canadian geographer detained three weeks ago on suspicion of spying for Hezbollah.

Falah was held for the first 18 days of his detention without permission to consult a lawyer, and was questioned by security sources for more than 12 hours straight without break or sleep.

The Shin Bet and police defended their questioning methods as "justified and correct in light of the developments that emerged during the investigation."

Falah, a professor at the University of Akron, Ohio, arrived in Israel on July 4 to visit his mother, who had been hospitalized in Haifa for cancer treatment. He was arrested four days later, on July 8, four days before the outbreak of the current conflict in Lebanon, after taking photographs of what security officials said was an Israel Defense Forces' antenna near Rosh Hanikra."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744364.html

[Vidar]

1. At least they let him out-- better than the US in this one regard.

[LiberalHeart]

2. Israel Releases Ohio College Professor Accused of Spying

WADSWORTH, Ohio (AP) - Israel has released an Ohio college professor it had accused of spying, his wife said Sunday. Ghazi Falah, a geography professor at the University of Akron, had been jailed since he was arrested July 8 after taking photos of Israeli installations along the northern border.

Israeli authorities in the United States have said they suspected him of spying for hostile forces, but they had not specified the enemy. Falah's lawyer in Israel said Falah was accused of spying for Hezbollah and Iran.

More:
http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=5216843

(This whole episode seems very odd. I wonder if they bothered apologizing to him.)

[ShockediSay]

3. at least they released him

he mussta been somehow connected

[LiberalHeart]

4. If a spy, why would they release him?

Earlier reports when he was detained said he had written things critical of Israel, but it was scholarly stuff. I'd think if they had a case against him, he wouldn't be seeing Ohio any time soon.

[zreosumgame]

6. that's a pretty unthought out statement

care to prove it?

[The Stranger]

8. Holy shit, I can't believe I am reading this on DU.

I want back my Progressive web site.

[Scurrilous]

5. A political prisoner in Israel’s Gulag

Ghazi Falah, a Palestinian with US residency who also is a citizen of both Canada and Israel, was in Israel visiting his sick mother. When he decided to take pictures at the beach, he got arrested. Now he's guilty. Guilty of being Arab

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3282717,00.html

[Scurrilous]

7. Son: Akron Professor Interrogated For 60 Hours Straight

<snip>

"A University of Akron professor who was held by Israeli police for two weeks was released on Sunday, and now more is being learned about what the Wadsworth man went through during his imprisonment.

Ghazi Falah, 52, was accused of espionage but was never formally charged.

Israeli police picked him up when he was taking photos near the Lebanese border. For weeks, his family worked the phones and the local media to get the word out about Falah's arrest.

Falah's son, 23-year-old Naail Falah, told NewsChannel5 that his father did not want to give any details over the phone about how he was treated.

However, Naail learned that his father may have been interrogated for 60 straight hours, and also placed in a dark narrow box to give the feeling that he was buried alive."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/wews/20060731/lo_wews/9603993

[Algorem]

9. Akron Professor Says Israeli Interrogators Tied Him To Chair

http://www.wcpo.com/news/2006/local/07/31/oh_professor.html

JERUSALEM (AP) -- An Ohio college professor freed after 22 days in an Israeli jail said Monday that he was tied to a chair and questioned for 60 hours after being detained on suspicion of spying for Iran and Hezbollah...

Falah, who is known in academic circles for his writings on the borders of Israel and a future Palestinian state, was held after taking photographs close to Israel's border with Lebanon...

The professor said he believes he was detained because he has written articles critical of Israel.

"I think it was a political arrest, because of my writing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and about Israel's policies toward its Palestinian citizens," Falah said.