Last update - 00:00 27/09/2006
IDF court orders release of Palestinian Deputy Premier
By Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters
An Israel Defense Forces court in Petah Tikva on Wednesday ordered the release of Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer, a top Hamas official, after more than a month in detention.
"The court admitted there was not enough evidence to keep him in jail," defense lawyer, Osama al-Saadi, told Haaretz. Al-Shaer was already on his way back to his home in the West Bank city of Nablus, al-Saadi said.
But the court temporarily banned him from going to his government office in the city of Ramallah, his lawyer said.
Israeli forces seized al-Shaer, who was put on Israel's wanted list, at his house on August 19. He had not been at home in late June when troops detained dozens of Hamas lawmakers and a number of cabinet ministers after militants abducted an Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid from Gaza.
Thirty-two Hamas legislators are still in Israeli custody.
On Monday, the Ofer military court in the West Bank reversed a decision to release 21 of the detained lawmakers on bail, ordering the men held in detention until the end of judicial proceedings against them.
The military prosecution has charged the 21 Hamas members with belonging to a "terrorist group" and posing a security threat against Israel. Hamas, which came to power in a Palestinian election in January, advocates Israel's destruction.
There had been widespread speculation that the legislators could be freed as part of a future deal for the release of the abducted soldier.