Palestinian Authority detains resident for naming his baby 'Mohammed Morsi'

The Palestinian general security services in the West Bank detained on Wednesday Palestinian resident Abdul-Halim Ghannam, apparently because he named his baby after the ousted Egyptian president, Mohammed Morsi.

Ghannam’s family said that Abdul-Halim had been arrested nine times in the past by the Israeli occupation and spent seven years in Israeli jails. He was released in March 2013.

According to Abdul-Halim’s wife, he was summoned on Wednesday morning by the security services in Ramallah for unknown reasons. “Then, we were surprised when were informed that he was detained,” she said. “There was no accusation or justification for his detention.”

Local Palestinian news agency Safa reported the wife asking: “After long years in Israeli jails, are my children destined to continue living away from their father?” She also noted that her husband is suffering from a very bad health condition caused by his mistreatment in Israeli prisons.

As the Palestinian Authority has not provided any reason for detaining Ghannam, the outspoken Palestinian writer Lama Khater concluded that the only reason behind his detention is his giving the name of Mohammed Morsi to his newly born baby.

Following President Morsi’s ouster in a military coup in July 2013, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinian Authority figures praised Egypt’s military and its brutal crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.