It’s been a stressful month, but Naail Falah says he can finally breathe again.
On Sunday, Israeli officials released his father, Ghazi, after holding him for 24 days on allegations of espionage.
“It’s a ton of weight off my chest,” said Naail Falah, 23, of Wadsworth. “I was carrying this weight and it really was so difficult to breathe.”
Ghazi Falah, a University of Akron geography professor, went to Israel to visit his ailing mother.
Falah, 52, said he stopped to take pictures just north of Nahariya, a tourist destination a couple of miles from the Lebanese border, when he was detained by Israeli police.
His clothing and camera were confiscated. Falah was unable to speak to anyone, including his lawyer, for 21 days -- the limit detainees in national security cases can be held in Israel without legal representation.
Last week, an Israeli appeals court set Sunday as the deadline for state attorneys to press charges or release Falah from jail in Haifa, his family said.
On Sunday morning, Naail Falah said, he received a call from his father’s lawyer, Hussein Abu Hussein, letting him know the elder Falah had been released.
Ghazi Falah’s belongings, including his camera and the photos he took, were returned to him.
“He’s tired,” Naail Falah said. “When I asked him how the conditions in the jail were, he got a little silent and said he didn’t want to talk about it.”
Hussein said Falah was treated badly.
“He himself told me about the very bad conditions in which he was always in custody,” Hussein said. “He was not given the right to sleep, in some cases for 60 hours. He was constantly, for hours and hours and hours, not given food. Sometimes 16 hours without being given food.”
Hussein said that for most of Falah’s detainment, he was unable to brush his teeth or take a shower. The jail he was in was bombed July 16, but Falah was unharmed.
“It was a good feeling for him (to be released),” Hussein said. “It was really a good feeling that he was able like us to be out of this terrible place.”
Falah is a tenured professor at UA who is known as a specialist in Mideast geography, Bedouin settlements and urban geography.
He is an Israeli citizen of Arab descent and a citizen of Canada, where the family lived for several years before coming to the United States.
“We’re delighted that he’s been released and that he’s coming back,” UA spokesman Paul Herold said.
Falah will remain in Israel for a few more days to visit with his mother, his family said. Then he will fly to Toronto for a procedural check-in with the Canadian government, Naail Falah said. His family expects him to return to Wadsworth by Friday.
Despite what he’s been through, Falah has been in good spirits, his son said.
“He says he’s fine,” Naail Falah said. “He was joking around, laughing and happy.”
Messages for Beth Rankin may be left at 330-996-3136 or brankin@thebeaconjournal.com
