A turning point in the "detainee" affair of Mali and Liel Yahalomi in Namibia: Chabad activist in the country, Rabbi Yosef Rahimi, claims that the two women arrested are not the Israeli mother and daughter, but rather two Iranian citizens who held fake Israeli passports.
Earlier today (Wednesday), the Israel Police were informed, through a police representative in Africa, that Mali and Liel were arrested in Namibia on suspicion of possessing fake passports.
The Israeli police are not involved in the local investigation.
However, Rabbi Rahimi later arrived at the police station to assist the two detainees, who, according to the information he was given, were Mali and Liel - and discovered, he said, that they were other women.
""I brought food and water to the mother and daughter, thinking it was Lyal and Melly," he said. "I got to the police station and it turns out it wasn't them. I saw them physically, it wasn't them.".
In a conversation with Shimon Ifergan of the Mako website, Rahimi said that he visited the two in the detention cell. "It turned out that these were two Iranian citizens, a 14-year-old girl and a 40-year-old mother. They didn't know a single word of Hebrew, they spoke to me a little in English and Persian, and they weren't Mali and Liel Yahalomi. These are the only two women who were defined by the local police as Israeli citizens, since they held fake Israeli passports.".
At this stage, no official confirmation has yet been received from the authorities in Namibia or Israel regarding Rabbi Rahimi's version, and the circumstances that led to the initial report that it was Mali and Liel Yahalomi are still being investigated.
Mali and Liel made headlines about two months ago, after contact with them was lost during their stay in Vienna. As a result, they were declared missing, and their disappearance sparked concern among their family and security officials.
About a week after they were declared missing, the two were located by an Israel Police representative in Argentina. They were questioned and released after no criminal charges were brought against them at the time.
