Mohammed Mar'i Saudi Gazette RAMALLAH – Israel is holding a Palestinian in administrative detention for over three years, a report said on Monday. The Israeli Channel 2 television said that the 39-year-old Samer Hilmi Al-Barq has been in administrative detention since August 2010 and the Israeli government is refusing to release him in fear that such an act “would constitute a point-of-no-return for the establishment of a significant base for the world Jihad in the region.” According to the report, Al-Barq was imprisoned in Jordan between 2003 and 2008 due to his alleged activity in a terror organization and his involvement in the biological weapons project. After being expelled from Jordan he reached the Allenby Bridge crossing on the border between Jordan and West Bank and was arrested by Israeli security authorities. The report quoted the Israeli government as alleging that Al-Barq, who was born in Kuwait to a Palestinian family and studied micro-biology in Pakistan, underwent military training in Afghanistan in 1988, and joined Al-Qaida three years later. The government said “the appellant accumulated knowledge and experience in various forms of non-conventional weapons, especially biological weapons, and was in touch with Al-Qaida's leadership.” Over the years the prisoner gone on hunger strike three times he has lost half his weight, according to his family. The prisoner is married to a Pakistani woman and had previously expressed his desire to be deported to the country. Mohammed Salah, Al-Barq's attorney, said that he has been targeted by the Israeli authorities because he is a devout Muslim who follows a radical ideology, despite not being involved in any activity that could constitute a threat to the public. “My client does not deny that he studied in Pakistan and participated in humanitarian activities. Even the Americans released him after three months. The absurdity is that Israel asked to determine if there is a place where he can stand trial... and now (Israeli government) doesn't know how to get rid of him,” Salah said. The attorney said that Al-Barq did not reach the crossing of his own free will, but rather, was handed over to Israel by the Jordanian authorities.
