ZAGREB, May 7, 2018 – The County Court in the Croatian town of Velika Gorica is supposed to decide on Tuesday whether to hand over a Bosnia and Herzegovina citizen, Alen Čamdžić, to Tunisia where he is wanted, according to media reports, due to his alleged involvement in the 2016 assassination of Mohamed Zouari, a Tunisian engineer and reportedly a member of one of The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.
The Bosnian Čamdžić was arrested on 13 March at Zagreb Airport in Velika Gorica on an Interpol warrant issued by Tunisia.
Media quoted a Tunisian office-holder as saying that their authorities have identified two suspects who are believed to have been involved in the assassination of Zouari, who was allegedly connected with Hamas, and that one of the suspects was arrested in Croatia. Zouari was killed on 15 December 2016 near his home in the city of Sfax.
The Times of Israel has recently reported that, according to a Tunisian Justice Ministry source, one of the suspects “was arrested two months ago in Croatia, but authorities were refusing to extradite him to Tunisia.”
“Zouari, an aviation engineer and Tunisian national, was confirmed by Hamas to be a central figure in its weapons development. The terror group called him a pioneer in developing its unmanned drones,” the Israeli newspaper said in the article headlined “One of two suspects behind 2016 hit on Hamas engineer said arrested in Croatia”.
Israel has not responded to the accusation by Hamas that it was behind the Tunisian engineer’s death.
The Zagreb-based Jutarnji List has reported that the Tunisian judiciary confirmed the arrest of one of the suspects in Croatia.
The extradition hearing will be held on Tuesday behind closed doors.
