The Times of India.indiatimes.com
GAZA CITY: Hamas on Thursday released a British reporter held in its Gaza enclave, the only foreigner to be arrested in the territory since the Islamist group seized power in June 2007.
The journalist and filmmaker Paul Martin was handed over to a delegation from the British consulate and driven in an armoured vehicle to the Erez crossing with Israel.
A ceremony to mark the release was held at the house of senior Hamas leader Mahmud al-Zahar, who said Martin was "not welcome in the Palestinian territories."
Martin was arrested on February 14 in a Gaza courtroom while testifying for a friend accused of "collaborating with Israel." His lawyer, Sharhabil al-Zaim, has said he was being held on an unspecified "security charge."
Britain had expressed concern over Martin's case, as had the Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association, which said he had been freelancing in the region for the past five years and was also a filmmaker.
The Hamas-run interior ministry had accused Martin of "violating Palestinian law and security in the Gaza Strip," without providing further details.
Hamas, which swept the last Palestinian parliamentary elections held in January 2006, remains blacklisted by the European Union and the United States as a "terrorist organisation."
It seized power in Gaza in June 2007 after a week of street battles in which it routed forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
