Wednesday morning, Israeli Prison Authorities released a jailed Palestinian legislator, and extended the the detention of another elected legislator for an additional eight days.
The two legislators are members of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, and were elected to the Legislative council during the January 2006 general elections.
Legislator Ahmad Ali Al Haj, 66, from Nablus, was recently elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council, and released from Israeli prison on Wednesday. He was imprisoned in the Negev detention camp.
Al Haj, from Al Ein refugee camp in Nablus, was arrested on September 24, 2005 during an Israeli military invasion, and was transferred to administrative detention (an Israeli policy whereby Palestinians can be held for indefinite terms without any charges) for four months. His detention term was renewed one day before the Palestinian elections last month.
On Monday Feb. 13th, the Israeli military court in the Maskobiyya detention facility in Jerusalem extended the detention of Palestinian legislator Dr. Omar Abdul Razzak for eight additional days.
Abdul Razzak, another member of the Hamas party who was elected to office in January, was arrested a couple of months ago.
His wife appealed to local and international legal and humanitarian organizations to immediately intervene and pressure the Israeli Authorities to free her detained husband.
Abdul Razzak is a lecturer at the Bir Zeit and Najah universities, in the West Bank.
