Hamas frees 150 Gaza prisoners for Muslim holiday

GAZA CITY — The Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip released 150 prisoners on Thursday, including what it calls security detainees, in honor of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha.

Those released include at least 25 "security detainees" and 77 people held on criminal charges, prison official Nasser Suleiman told reporters.

He added that 53 of the detainees were near the end of their sentence.

Outside the prison, the released men were embraced by joyful relatives and led home to celebrate Eid Al-Adha (The Feast of the Sacrifice), in which Muslims traditionally slaughter animals and share the meat with the poor.

"I was detained in June by the (Hamas-run) police during an arrest campaign against Fatah members," said Tariq Muhaisan, one of the detainees, referring to the secular party of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

"I was arrested for political reasons," he added.

Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya announced the release on Tuesday as a gesture for the holiday, which honours Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his only son Ishmael as related in the Koran.

Since Hamas seized Gaza in June 2007, the Islamist group and its rivals in the Fatah-led security forces -- now confined to the occupied West Bank -- have each arrested scores of people in tit-for-tat arrest campaigns, according to human rights groups.

Each of the two main Palestinian factions has accused the other of arbitrary arrests and torture in the territory under its control while insisting it only arrests those who constitute a security threat.