Palestinian Authority Reportedly Releases Rights Activist

GAZA CITY — The Palestinian Authority released human rights activist Iyad Sarraj on Wednesday morning, his brother said.

“They released him at 4 a.m. and dropped all charges against him,” Hakim Sarraj, 34, said.

Khaled Kidra, Palestinian prosecutor general, refused to comment.

The self-rule authority had laid charges against Sarraj ranging from drug possession to assaulting a police officer.

Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups have said they believe that authorities were trying to frame Sarraj, who had been detained since June 9, with the drug charge, and they feared he was being tortured.

The 53-year-old psychiatrist heads the Palestinian Independent Commission for Citizens’ Rights and is known for his criticism of the authority’s human rights record.

During Sarraj’s detention, his commission said it had received a note in his handwriting saying that he had been beaten and that officials were trying to frame him and that the “situation” was dangerous.

In a hearing June 13, a magistrates court ordered Sarraj released on bail regarding the drug allegation. But a military court the same day remanded Sarraj for 15 days for allegedly assaulting a policeman.