PA security officers detain office manager of chief Palestinian legislator

Sunday December 09, 2007 18:58 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

The Palestinian Authority's security services detained Sunday Abdelqaher Serour, office manager of the jailed speaker of Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), Aziz Dweik, who has been imprisoned by Israel since last summer.

PA's security forces/ Maan News Agency

The PA's security forces have been reportedly arresting scores of Hamas-linked people in the West Bank, since the Islamist group has seized the Gaza Strip in mid June.

The PA's Fatah-loyal forces have recently also sealed off almost 90 Hamas-run charities, under allegations of 'fraud and lack of accountability'. Hamas denied the accusations, saying the move was intended to undermine its West Bank-based structure.

Hamas sources claimed that Serur was summoned by the preventive security service's headquarter for interrogation, and then he was detained. Acting speaker of parliament in Gaza, Ahmad Bahar, held the preventive security for the detainee's safety, because of what Bahar says, the detainee's heart condition.

President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah outlawed Hamas in June, in the wake of what Abbas termed a ' coup against legitimacy' and formed a caretaker government in the West Bank.

Hamas' takeover of the coastal region came amidst a power struggle with Fatah, following Hamas's landslide victory during last January's PLC's elections.

gaza strip | internal unrest | news report rami at imemc dot org