Hamas vows to prevent holding elections in Gaza

Gaza - The Islamic Hamas movement which rules the Gaza Strip said Wednesday it would not allow presidential or parliamentary elections to take place in the salient on January 24, as called for by Ramallah-based President Mahmoud Abbas.

A statement by the Hamas ministry of the interior said the ban was because the election had been called "by figures who do not have the right to declare it" and because the polling would take place without a reconciliation deal between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah movement.

Abbas announced Friday that elections would be held on January 24, the end of the four-year term of the Palestinian Legislative Council.

The 2006 elections saw Hamas triumph over Fatah, leading to bitter tensions between the two movements, which culminated in the June 2007 Hamas rout of security forces loyal to Abbas in the Gaza Strip, and the takeover of the salient by the Islamist group.

Abbas responded to the takeover by dismissing the Fatah-Hamas unity government, but the Islamic movement continues to control the Gaza Strip while an Abbas-appointed government rules in the West Bank.

Efforts to reconcile Hamas with Fatah have so far failed and Hamas said Friday that Abbas' election decree was aimed at deepening the Palestinian political rift.

Gaza/Cairo - Hamas' Gaza Strip spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri charged Tuesday that Egypt had tortured his brother to death.

Yousef Abu Zuhri died Monday while in Egyptian custody.

In a statement sent to the media, Sami Abu Zuhri said that his 38- year-old brother "died in one of the Egyptian hospitals dues to severe and barbarian torture practiced by Egyptian security officers."

"Due to heavy torture, my brother suffered severe bleeding, but security officers refused to take him to hospital. When his conditions deteriorated, on Saturday, he was taken briefly to a private hospital for first aid and then was brought back to prison," Abu Zuhri said.

He said Yousef kept suffering "until he died in prison on Monday night without any announcement by the Egyptian authorities."

He added that he demanded an honest investigation into the circumstances of his brother's death.

Fawzi Barhoum, another Hamas spokesman, said in a statement sent to the media that Hamas has asked Egypt to clarify the circumstances surrounding the death of Yosef Abu Zhuri.

Abu Zuhri was arrested by Egyptian security forces in the city of al-Arish about six months ago. He had entered Egyptian territory through a tunnel dug under the Gaza-Sinai border.

The Egyptian Ministry of the Interior confirmed the death, but had no further comment