A Palestinian engineer who vanished on a Ukrainian train and mysteriously turned up in an Israeli prison has made his first public comments, accusing the Jewish state of kidnapping him “for no reason”.

He says he has no information about an Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip.

Dirar Abu Sisi spoke as he entered an Israeli court in the central city of Petach Tikva for a brief hearing that remanded him in custody until next Tuesday.

His lawyer said authorities told her that he will be indicted on unspecified charges next week.

Abu Sisi’s case has been clouded in secrecy because of an Israeli gag order barring publication of most details.

He disappeared early on February 19 after boarding a train in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. His family has accused Israel’s Mossad spy agency of abducting him.

As he entered the courtroom, Abu Sisi, 42, told reporters he was just a power plant engineer in Gaza and that “Israel kidnapped me for no reason.”

He also said he knew nothing about Sgt Gilad Schalit, an Israeli soldier captured in Gaza in June 2006 by Hamas-linked militants.

Germany’s Der Spiegel magazine speculated that Israel might have seized Abu Sisi to try to wrest information about the fate of the soldier.

Militants have allowed no access to Schalit since his capture, releasing only a brief videotaped statement from him in October 2009.

Abu Sisi’s Israeli lawyer, Smadar Ben-Natan, said today authorities told her he will be charged next week but gave no details.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Abu Sisi was a member of Hamas, the violently anti-Israel group that rules Gaza.

He said Abu Sisi relayed important information.

Ben-Natan denies Abu Sisi is a Hamas loyalist and his Ukrainian wife alleges Israeli agents kidnapped him to sabotage a key power plant in Gaza where he worked. She has said he was in Ukraine to apply for citizenship.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, said Abu Sisi told one of its lawyers he was dragged out of his sleeper car, hooded and handcuffed by Israeli agents and forced on a plane.

The Palestinian ambassador to Ukraine, Mohammed Alassad, accused Israel of “piracy” calling it “an international crime that must be punished.”

The Ukrainian government has said it is waiting for an official Israeli explanation.