An advisor to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad who was arrested by Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip was freed on Friday after being held by the Islamist group for more than a month, Hamas and Fayyad's office said.
Omar al-Ghoul was the most senior official in the Palestinian Authority to be arrested since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip after routing secular Fatah forces in June.
Fayyad was appointed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to lead a Western-backed administration in the West Bank after Hamas's Gaza takeover. Ghoul, a well-known columnist for local newspapers and a frequent critic of Hamas, had been taken from his home in Gaza in December, Fatah officials said.
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Jamal Zaqqout, an aide to Fayyad, accused Hamas of torturing Ghoul and called his detainment "a violation to human rights".
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/950376.html