Menahem Kavalkin, an Israeli sailor removed from the Swedish flag ship S. S. Birkland by Egyptian authorities in the Suez Canal, declared today that he was beater and tortured throughout most of his 84-day detention in an Egyptian prison. His body covered by bruises and wounds, Mr. Kavalkin returned to Israel today from Cyprus where he transferred from a Norwegian ship which took him from Egypt.
“I was tortured cruelly and was not left alone for one minute,” The sailor said. He reported that his Egyptian jailors attempted to beat out of him “Israeli Army secrets,” of which he was totally ignorant. All his personal belongings were stolen by his jailors and he was treated slightly better only on the last few days before his release.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
