RIYADH – Abdulrahman Al-Atawi, the Saudi man who was released from an Israeli prison, told an Arabic daily that the Zionist entity had spread false rumors in the media about him and a group of prisoners seeking asylum in Israel as a means to exert psychological pressure on them to end their hunger strike. In 2005, Al-Atawi allegedly lost his way while hunting in the Sinai Desert. He was arrested by Israeli border guards and subsequently sentenced to three months in jail. However, Israeli authorities detained him indefinitely until they finally deported him to the United States with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which in cooperation with US authorities, provided him with legal and humanitarian assistance. Al-Atawi who is from Tabuk, returned to the Kingdom last week and was greeted by family members at Riyadh's King Khaled International Airport. Talking about his six-year ordeal in Israel's Ramleh prison, Al-Atawi said the majority of his inmates were from Africa. He said they went on periodic hunger strikes, something which irked Israeli authorities and prompted them to spread the false asylum rumors about Al-Atawi and his fellow inmates. “The rumors were not true. This was a form of exercising psychological pressure on us so we would stop our hunger strike. There was also pressure on Israel from human rights groups that were following up with our situation,” he said. Al-Atawi said he traveled to Jordan, Syria and back to Jordan again before entering Egypt through the Nuwaiba Seaport. He went to the Sinai Desert on a hunting trip but lost his way and found himself inside the occupied territories. He was arrested by Israeli border guards near the Erez Crossing between Egypt and Israel. He was tried in an Israeli military court and was charged with trespassing the country's borders and sentenced to three months in prison. He said Israeli authorities were reluctant to release him on account of his Saudi citizenship and as a result, he was not released after his sentence ended on May 21, 2005. Al-Atawi's family appointed Kateb Al-Shammary, a Saudi lawyer, to follow up with their son's case. The Saudi lawyer appointed Mandella Law Firm, based in the Palestinian territories, to contact Al-Atawi and obtain information about how he was arrested and his condition. “In the beginning, I didn't provide the firm with any information but later, when I learned that it had been appointed by a Saudi lawyer hired by my family, I began cooperating,” explained Al-Atawi. Al-Shammary was able to obtain a certificate from Egyptian immigration that said Al-Atawi had entered Egypt legally and had not left the country. Despite the certificate, Israeli authorities continued to detain Al-Atawi. In 2010, he was set free but Israeli authorities refused to allow him to return home and instead, he was moved to a remote farm to work under tight security. He sent letters to his family and received theirs through the agents of the International Red Crescent. Al-Atawi was deported from Israel to the United States through the UN High Commission for Refugees in November 2011. He was issued a US residency permit and was provided with legal and humanitarian services in the United States. However, he preferred to return to the Kingdom. “I went to the Saudi Embassy in Washington D.C. and told them I wanted to return to the Kingdom. The embassy provided me with all facilities and I was given a ticket to board a Saudi aircraft,” he said. — SG
