European politicians and Palestinian critics have spoken out against Bulgaria's attempt to extradite to Israel a former Palestinian political prisoner who has taken refuge for more than three weeks in the Palestinian Authority's embassy in Sofia.

Although 52-year-old Omar Nayef Zayed escaped from Israeli custody 25 years ago, the Israeli embassy in Sofia requested on December 15 that the Bulgarian government extradite him.

In response, Bulgarian police gave him 72 hours to turn himself in so that he could be sent to Israel.

"He refused to turn himself in," his brother Hamza told Al Jazeera by telephone from Amman, Jordan.

Zayed, who has lived in the Bulgaria capital since 1994, went to the PA's embassy and has refused to leave.

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