Palestinian engineer Abu Sisi indicted with missile development and terror charges

2011-04-04 22:18:39 GMT+7 (ICT)

BE'ER SHEVA, ISRAEL (BNO NEWS) -- Palestinian engineer Dirar Abu Sisi on Monday was indicted for being an alleged missile developer to the Hamas terrorist group in southern Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Abu Sisi was indicted for charged with membership in a terrorist organization, conspiracy to commit a crime, and the production of illegal weaponry, assistance to an illegal organization and other various crimes related to terrorism activities in Be'er Sheva District Court.

The engineer has been in custody for 40 days. He was reportedly abducted over a month ago as he was traveling on a train in Ukraine and brought to Israel for interrogation.

Abu Sisi is married with a Ukrainian woman and has denied any links to the Hamas organization that operated ion the Gaza Strip. However, Israel alleges that the engineer is one of the leading developers for Hamas' Kassam short and long range missiles.

Furthermore, prosecutors said Abu Sisi is the suspect known as the "Rocket Godfather of Hamas." The defendant was also responsible for upgrading thousands of older rockets and increasing their range and penetration capabilities.

Both the engineer and Hamas have denied the allegations. Abu Sisi's relatives said that the engineer was abducted while arranging residency for his family in Ukraine. Local authorities are investigation the disappearance of Abu Sisi as Israel has not provided any details of his capture.

The only information came from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who last week informed that Abu Sisi's arrest was legal. Reportedly, the engineer has provided Israeli authorities with valuable intelligence information during time with Hamas's military wing.

According to the indictment, he worked closely with Ahmed al-Jabari, the head of Hamas's military wing. He was reportedly recruited into the terrorist group Sheikh Nizar Rayan, a spiritual leader of Hamas's military in 2002.

Rayan, who was killed during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, introduced Abu Sisi to various senior Hamas leaders, including Saleh Shehada, the organziation's military commander at the time.

Abu Sisi studied engineering at the Kharkov Military Engineering Academy in Kharkov, Ukraine. Due to his education, Shehada allegedly recruited him to assist in the weaponry development for Hamas.

He later joined a committee responsible for research and development for weaponry headed by Mohammed Def. Abu Sisi was in charge of electrical engineering and developing boosters and fins that stabilized and enhanced rocket propulsion.

In 2005, he was asked to increase the range of rockets that were manufactured domestically in the Gaza Strip. Abu Sisi was able to increase the Kassam rockets' range to 45 kilometers (27.96 miles).

After Operation Cast Lead, Abu Sisi was asked by Hamas to help establishing a military academy. In 2010, he met with Hamas operatives from Syria during a trip to Mecca.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-04

OH well, when you build missiles like this, sooner or later you get to be a martyr.

Looks like Mossad must have got a new bunch of passports printed.