KUALA LUMPUR – A Palestinian man with a Malaysian wife and child have been deported from Brazil after arriving there from Malaysia on Friday.
The arrest yesterday was made based on a tip-off from the United States’ State Department, which told Brazilian federal police that the man, Muslim Abuumar, was a “Hamas operative”, Reuters reports.
The 37-year-old man, his pregnant wife, son and mother-in-law, were detained on Friday when entering Brazil at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport. They were sent to Doha yesterday on a Qatar Airways flight, the news wire said, quoting police sources.
“It was proven before a judge that (Abuumar) was deeply involved with Hamas,” a senior federal police officer was quoted saying to Reuters.
The US had told Brazilian police that Muslim would be arriving there from Kuala Lumpur with the intention of becoming a spokesman for Hamas.
However, Abuumar’s lawyer, Bruno Henrique de Moura, said the family had come to visit his brother who lives in Brazil.
De Moura also said in an application to the court, for an injunction on the deportation, that the family had been detained without a warrant.
According to the application, Abuumar is executive director of the Asia Middle East Center, while his wife is Malaysian and his son was born in Malaysia. – June 25, 2024