Israeli authorities release Jordanian-Canadian businessman

AMMAN — Israeli authorities released Jordanian-Canadian businessman Ibrahim Siyam on Monday evening after over a month in detention, a Foreign Ministry official said on Tuesday.

“Siyam, who was detained for interrogation, is expected to reach Jordan within the next two days,” the ministry’s spokesperson, Sabah Al Rafei, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Throughout the detention period, the ministry was in contact with Siyam’s family, his lawyer and Israeli authorities, through Jordan’s embassy in Tel Aviv, Rafei added, noting that an official from the embassy’s consul affairs department visited Siyam two weeks ago. 

The 58-year-old was arrested by Israeli security personnel while he was heading to the West Bank to attend a conference in Ramallah in early May, his nephew Ahmad Siyam told The Jordan Times last month.

He added that Israel’s security service Shin Bet arrested his uncle who was crossing through the King Hussein Bridge with a group of businesspeople invited by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to participate in an investment forum.

According to Ahmad’s account, his uncle, who holds Canadian citizenship, has businesses both in Jordan and Canada.