Ouda Tarabin (, ; born in 1981) is an Israeli

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

who was imprisoned in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

for 15 years on suspicion of spying for Israel after illegally crossing the Israeli-Egyptian border. Tarabin, then aged 19, was arrested in 2000 after he illegally crossed the border from Israel (his brother suggests he went over to visit his sister in

El-Arish ʻArish or el-ʻArīsh ( ' ) is the capital and largest city of the North Sinai Governorate of Egypt, as well as the largest city on the Sinai Peninsula, lying on the Mediterranean coast northeast of Cairo and west of the Egypt–Gaza border. T ...

). Illegal border crossings by the

residents of Israel and Egypt are not a rarity; Israel also occasionally arrests Egyptian crossers, who are returned over the border after a short interrogation. Ouda had previously crossed into Egypt; after his return to Israel, he was tried ''in absentia'' on charges of spying for Israel by an Egyptian military court. The stated basis of the

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

was testimony given by Ouda's Egyptian cousin, Eid Suleiman, who was arrested for similar charges in 1999. The trial was conducted under Egypt's 1981 emergency law, granting police sweeping powers of arrest. He was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison. When Ouda was arrested after again crossing into Egypt in 2000, he was informed of his trial and sentence, and that his father had been similarly sentenced in absentia to 25 years for espionage. Ouda, therefore, had no chance of defending himself in person. According to his family, he had done nothing wrong other than cross into Egypt without the proper documentation. Tarabin was incarcerated in a

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

prison, in the same cell which

Azzam Azzam Azzam Azzam (, Levantine Arabic: , ; born 1962) is an Israeli Druze who was convicted in Egypt of spying for Israel, and jailed for eight years. He maintained his innocence throughout the ordeal. Arrest and trial Azzam is from the town of Magha ...

was once held in.

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

Ayoob Kara Ayoob Kara (, ; born 12 March 1955) is an Israeli Druze politician. He has served as a member of the Knesset for Likud in four terms between 1999 and 2021, and as Minister of Communications. Biography Kara was born in Daliyat al-Karmel, a D ...

met with Tarabin's family to work to secure his release. In May 2012, it was reported that Israeli officials were conducting secret negotiations with Egypt, and were discussing the possibility of releasing all 83 Egyptians incarcerated in Israeli prisons in exchange for Tarabin. In 2013, Tarabin went on hunger strike in protest of his imprisonment. In December 2015, Tarabin was released from prison.

References

External links

* (Hebrew
The blog of Yitzchak Meltzer (Ouda's Israeli lawyer)
* (German
The German Middle East magazine zenith
1981 births Living people Arab citizens of Israel Egypt in the Arab–Israeli conflict Bedouin Israelis 21st-century Israeli people {{Israel-bio-stub

See also

References

External links