Israel releases 9 Palestinian legislators
Israeli prisons still hold 24 members of Palestinian Legislative Council, two Hamas ministers arrested after Shalit's capture
Israel on Wednesday released nine members of the Palestinian Legislative Council who were arrested shortly after kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit was captured. The legislators reportedly finished out their sentences.
The nine, residents of the West Bank cities of Ramallah, Jenin, Nablus and Hebron, were transferred from the Ketziot prison to the West Bank. After their release 24 members of Palestinian Legislative Council and two Hamas ministers still remain in the prison.
Roughly two months ago one of the main 'secret weapons' in the Shalit exchange deal, Hamas spokesman Aziz Duwaik, was released.
Judges on his case, headed by Colonel Aharon Mishnayot, ruled that the Military Prosecutor's Office did not succeed in proving the connection between his appointment as Hamas' legislative council speaker and his relation to the organization, and therefore did not alter the sentence he had received, which amounted to three years in prison.
The judges' decision suggested that the Military Prosecutor's Office did not manage to prove Duwaik's senior status and mentioned that he was in fact the parliament chairman but was not put on trial on that account.
