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UK continues to raise detention of tortured British national with Israel

November 30, 2016 at 4:48 pm

The UK government is continuing to raise the detention of a British national with Israeli authorities, a minister has told Parliament, weeks after he was first arrested and tortured.

Faiz Mahmoud Ahmed Sherari, a dual British-Lebanese national, was arrested by Israeli forces in September, and has been held ever since. An Israeli military court stated that he had been tortured and confessed under duress, a conclusion since overruled by a second court.

Responding to a question posed by Labour MP Daniel Zeichner, Middle East minister Tobias Ellwood said that the British embassy in Tel Aviv “has raised, and continues to raise” the detention of Sherari with the Israeli authorities, “most recently on 15 November.”

Ellwood added that “consular officials continue to provide consular support” to Sherari and his family.

The minister gave the same reply to two separate questions tabled by Zeichner, one asking whether Sherari had been provided consular assistance, and the second asking what representations the freign secretary had made to the Israeli government on the detention of Sherari.

In a highly unusual ruling – the conviction rate in Israeli military courts is higher than 99 per cent – an Israeli judge detailed the “prolonged painful shackling [and] threats” that Sherari had been subjected to at the hands of Shin Bet officers.

According to reports, Sherari is accused of providing cash and mobile phones to Hamas. He was prevented from seeing a lawyer from 15 September, the date of his arrest, until 6 October.

However, on 11 November, a military appeals court overturned the earlier military court decision ordering his release, claiming that the minutes of the interrogation provided by the Shin Bet “reveal an ordinary interrogation without threats.”

Sherari was ordered to remain in custody until the conclusion of proceedings.