Bashar Saidi, a U.S. citizen, was arrested Christmas Day by authorities in Sefa-Amr, a small town in northern Israel, said Houeida Saad, director of legal services for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee of Washington, D.C.
An engineer for North Star Steel Corp. in Monroe, Saidi is accused of spying against Israel for a Lebanese group known as the Syrian Nationalist Party. He was being held at the Kishon Detention Center in Haifa, Israel.
"I'm very sad and feel so guilty," his wife Sawsan told The Detroit News for a story yesterday.
"I'm the one who convinced him to go to Israel," his wife said. "If it wasn't for me, he would be by my side today and I wouldn't have to fear for his safety."
The newspaper said it could not reach the U.S. State Department or the Israeli Consulate in Chicago for comment Wednesday.
Saidi and his wife left for the Middle East in mid-December. Saidi went to Lebanon. His wife, a Palestinian American, went to Israel to visit family. The couple was planning to meet in Israel a few days before Christmas and return to Inkster in early January.
Saidi took a bus to Israbut and was detained about eight hours Dec. 18 at the Israeli border before being allowed to enter the country.
The couple were going to surprise Saidi's wife's family with the news that they are expecting a baby. Israeli police and security agents, with a warrant for Saidi's arrest, raided the home on Christmas Day while he was having dinner with his wife's family.
Israeli police requested a gag order for the case, and Saidi was held eight days before he could meet with a lawyer, Saad said.
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