Mossad officers believed to have kidnapped and tortured Palestinian businessman in Ghana
London (QNN)- The Arab Organization for Human Rights in London revealed on Monday that A Palestinian citizen has been subjected to enforced disappearance and torture in Ghana by officials, who are believed to be Mossad officials.
The organization said in a press statement that Mustafa Bajour (39 years old) has been subjected to torture and enforced disappearance in Ghana the moment he arrived the country in December 13, 2018 until he was released in late March.
Bajour arrived in Ghana on December 13, 20188 in a work trip, however he was arrested along with two Ghanaian nationals as soon as he left the airport of the Ghanaian capital, Accra without justification. The three of them were taken to unknown location, in which the 2 Ghanaian men were released and then told Bajour’s family about his arrest, said the statement.
During his disappearance, Baajour’s family contacted the relevant authorities in Ghana, including the Internal Intelligence, to inquire about the reasons and place of his detention; however, the authorities denied his presence in Ghana or that they had arrested him in the first place. His fate remained unknown until the moment of his release.
AOHR UK stated that Baajour was subjected to physical torture, beating all over his body, psychological torture, insult and verbal abuse by white-skinned officers speaking little Arabic language. Some officers’ clothes had Hebrew writings on it.
In his statement to AOHR UK, Baajour said: “As soon as I left the airport in Accra, four cars surrounded the car I was in, with another two Ghanaian men who were at my reception.
They arrested us without showing a legal warrant, without disclosing the agency they belong to and took us to another place, where they exchanged cars. They took me to an unknown place, I still do not know, and I was handcuffed the whole time.
I asked them about the detention center or agency, they told me they are from the International Counter-Terrorism Agency. White-skinned men, who knew little Arabic, started investigating me. They were 14 men from different nationalities as they told me. I noticed on a coat, which belongs to one of them, Hebrew badges, Hebrew written papers, and some of them used Hebrew words like “Shekel”.
I was interrogated about the situation of the refugees in Lebanon, the Lebanese and Palestinian political forces, some terrorist activities and operations that were not related to me and I told them so. They tortured me in various ways for 35 days. They detained me in a narrow room, 1×1 meters, deprived me of sleep for up to three consecutive days, poured cold water on me and beat me on the head strongly, in addition to handcuffing my hands and feet all the time. They threatened me with kidnapping my 12-year-old daughter and killing her, while verbally abusing me”.
Baajour added, “I lost 25 kg of weight because of the starvation I was subjected to. For the whole duration of my detention, I only ate one tomato and a cucumber daily. I also suffered many injuries and bruises due to torture. I asked to be seen by a doctor to treat my injuries, but they ignored my request.
I believe the interrogation process did not take place in one country. I was taken by plane for hours to change the location of the investigation. I was blindfolded and could not identify the location or the state.
While releasing me, they told me not to speak of what had happened or the airport from which I traveled back, which was in Kenya as I learned later.”
The Ghanaian authorities must open a transparent and extensive investigation into the enforced disappearance as well as the torture Baajour has been through at the hands of Ghanaian and foreign security personnel, which violates Ghanaian as well as international laws.
The Ghanaian authorities must bring those responsible for this crime to justice.
AOHR UK condemns the cooperation between the Ghanaian and Kenyan security services with the Israeli Mossad, which is known for its brutality and its various international crimes.
AOHR UK calls on the UN Working Group on Enforced Disappearances and the Special Rapporteur on torture to investigate the enforced disappearance and torture of Baajour
