Brazil deports Hamas ‘operative’ and family

BRASILIA - Brazil has deported a Palestinian man and his family after Brazilian federal police were alerted by the United States that a “Hamas operative” was travelling to the South American country, the Brazilian authorities said on June 24.

Muslim Abuumar, along with his pregnant wife, son and mother-in-law, were detained on June 21 entering the country at Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos airport and put on a Qatar Airways flight back to Doha two days later, police sources told Reuters.

“The request came from the US State Department,” a senior federal police officer said. “It was proven before a judge that (Abuumar) was deeply involved with Hamas.”

A federal judge in Sao Paulo stopped the deportation on June 22 to request information from the police, which, when provided, led her to approve the deportation of Abuumar and his family.

Judge Milenna da Cunha, in her decision seen by Reuters, said Brazilian federal police received an alert via the US embassy that “a Hamas operative, Muslim Abuumar” would be arriving in Brazil from Kuala Lumpur.

According to an injunction filed by Abuumar’s lawyer, Mr Bruno Henrique de Moura, the Palestinian family was detained by police on entry at Guarulhos airport without a warrant. It said they were coming to visit his brother, who lives in Brazil.

Brazilian police sources, however, said Abuumar was not coming for a visit but to stay in Brazil and become a spokesman for Hamas. One source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the large amount of luggage he brought with his family showed he was planning to stay longer.

Abuumar, 37, is executive director of the Kuala Lumpur-based Asia Middle East Centre. His wife is Malaysian and his children Malaysian-born, the injunction filed by his lawyer said.

Its website describes the centre as “an independent Malaysia-based non-profit think-tank dedicated to in-depth research and analysis facilitating intellectual and cultural exchange between the diverse societies of Asia and the Middle East”.

A police source said Abuumar had first flown to Brazil in 2023, arriving on Jan 1, the day leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sworn into office for a new term.

Mr Lula defends a two-state solution for the Palestinian conflict and has condemned the Israeli military response in Gaza to Hamas’ deadly Oct 7 attack on Israel.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation has had a representative in Brasilia since Brazil recognised Palestine in 1975, and Mr Lula’s government allowed a Palestinian embassy to be built in the Brazilian capital in 2010 at the end of his second term as president.

Palestinian ambassador in Brasilia, Mr Ibrahim Al Zeben, said nobody officially contacted the embassy about Abuumar. “We trust Brazilian policy,” he said.

Mr Moura said Brazilian police “simply agreed to a US request that was politically motivated” and based on Abuumar’s name appearing on the US government’s terrorist watch list. Hamas is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union.

“The United States uses this list to make life difficult for pro-Palestinian activists,” Mr Moura said.

Judge Cunha, in her ruling approving the deportation, cited Abuumar’s social media postings of him meeting in Doha with Ismail Haniyeh, a chief political leader of Hamas. REUTERS