Palestinian Dirar Abu Sisi Allegedly Kidnapped by Israel Indicted as Hamas Member

JERUSALEM -- Israeli prosecutors today indicted a Palestinian engineer dubbed "the father of the rockets" on charges of helping the Islamist Hamas movement develop rockets in Gaza.

In a mysterious case that has riveted Israel, Dirar Abu Sisi says he was kidnapped during a visit to Ukraine in February and moved secretly to Israel. He was indicted after being held in custody for 40 days.

"Abu Sisi was engaged in the development of missiles to be launched by Hamas, including increasing their range and ability to pierce steel so as to penetrate armored vehicles and thus strike at soldiers," the indictment said. "Abu Sisi is accused of nine charges regarding activity in a terrorist organization, hundreds of counts of attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder and production of weaponry offenses."

Tsafrir Abayov, Pool / AP

Israeli authorities on Monday indicted Palestinian Dirar Abu Sisi on charges he headed Hamas' militant training program and developed rockets for the organization.

In a court today, Abu Sisi, 42, rejected all of the charges, saying he is not a member of Hamas and has no information about captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

"I am not guilty," he said. "I have no connection to security operations against Israel, and I have no connection to Gilad Shalit. When they saw I had no connection to Gilad Shalit, they decided to charge me with other security offenses, to which I also have no relation."

Abu Sisi's wife is a Ukrainian citizen, and relatives say he went to Ukraine to arrange residency for himself and his family. Ukrainian officials said that Abu Sisi's disappearance is under investigation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said only that it was a "legal arrest."

Last week, the German newspaper Der Spiegel suggested that Abu Sisi, who was a senior engineer at Gaza's sole power plant, was kidnapped because he had information about Shalit, who Israel believes is being held in Gaza by Hamas.

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Israel television broadcast a conversation between Gilad's father, Noam Shalit, and Abu Sisi's wife, Veronica, in which he asks her to release any information she has on his son's kidnapping almost five years ago. Veronica insists that Abu Sisi is not a member of Hamas and has no information.

The indictment comes as tensions between Israel and Hamas have increased. Hamas has recently fired long-range rockets at southern Israel, and Israel has responded with airstrikes on Gaza. Two years ago, Israel launched a large-scale invasion into Gaza to stop the rocket fire.

The Israeli indictment also names a Ukrainian professor at the Kharkov Military Engineering Academy who was Abu Sisi's mentor and an expert in Scud missile control systems.