By Jose A. Sanchez
BELIZE CITY (Reuters) – Belize on Tuesday said it was sending three men, including a leader of the Jewish sect Lev Tahor, back to Guatemala after arresting them at the Central American countries’ shared border.
Avraham Dinkel, a Canadian citizen who has acted as spokesman for Lev Tahor, was among the group detained at the Belize-Guatemala border on Monday, according to Belizean authorities.
Founded in 1988, Lev Tahor (“Pure Heart” in Hebrew) has faced multiple allegations of kidnapping, child marriage and physical abuse. The community has frequently moved, often fleeing child welfare agencies.
Belize’s head of immigration, Tanya Santos, told Reuters that Dinkel and Chaim Malka – whom Belizean media identified as a member of Lev Tahor – had aided another member, Moshe Yhida Alter, in attempting to enter the country with a falsified document. The three have been convicted and fined.
Police also released a photo of Alter’s falsified identification.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach the three men or a lawyer representing them, though Lev Tahor has always denied allegations of abuse.
“Our only crime is being Jewish,” the organization said in a post on X this month.
In December, Guatemalan authorities rescued 160 children from a compound run by Lev Tahor in southeastern Guatemala after receiving allegations of child abuse, including rape.
Belizean officials are coordinating with their Guatemalan counterparts to send the men back, according to police commissioner Chester Williams.
Malka and Alter are U.S. citizens. It was not immediately clear what their legal status in Guatemala was, and Guatemala’s interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lev Tahor has come under fire in several Latin American countries in recent years, with one raid in southern Mexico in 2022 coming to a head after around 20 members escaped detention.
On Sunday, El Salvador received a request from Israel’s government to extradite another Lev Tahor member on charges of abusing two minors.
(Reporting by Jose A. Sanchez in Belize City and Kylie Madry in Mexico City; Additional reporting by Sofia Menchu in Guatemala City. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
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