CAIRO: Egyptian-American engineer Mohammed Radwan was detained by Syrian authorities in Damascus Friday, for allegedly spying for Israel.
Syrian state television aired a video of Radwan confessing that he was communicating with a journalist from Columbia to send photos and videos from Syria to him, which Syrian authorities considered to be an indication that he is spying on behalf of foreign institutions.
Syrian TV said that Radwan secretly visited Israel, an allegation that was completely denied by his family.
“Needless to say, this is all a complete falsehood, as he is an engineer working in a family business office for about nine months now and spends substantial time in Cairo,” wrote Radwan’s cousin Tarek Shalaby on his blog tarekshalaby.com.
“He is also a frequent traveler who had spent about a year backpacking through Central and Latin America, and therefore carries a passport with many visa stamps,” he wrote.
Aya Batrawy, Middle East Senior Correspondent for the German Press Agency and a close friend of Radwan, told Daily News Egypt that as far as she knows Radwan has never been to Israel.
“Syrian TV is trying to falsely portray Radwan’s communication with this Columbian journalist as spy work. Selling photos cannot be an accusation by itself.” said Batrawy.
Shalaby told DNE in a telephone interview that the family contacted the Egyptian Embassy in Syria whose members confirmed that they know Radwan personally and will contact the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to release him.
He added that they tried to enlist the help of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs but were told that their request will be on hold until Minister Nabil El-Araby returns from a trip to Sudan with the Prime Minister.
The video showing Radwan on Syrian TV was framed as the “confessions of foreigners involved in destabilizing the country in exchange for money”. It was further described as an indication that the current uprising in Syria is the work of “foreign infiltrators”, the same rhetoric used by other Arab regimes threatened by revolutions.
“The Arab dictators fail to learn from each others’ mistakes and are resorting to dated techniques in an attempt to shoot down our revolutionary spirit,” says Shalaby.
“Radwan will soon overcome what is but a minor bump in the road of a revolution the Arab world deserves,” he added.
