Palestinian security officials in the West Bank rejected accusations on Monday by Hamas that a man who died in their custody had been killed by Fatah forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas. According to Reuters, officials from Hamas described 30-year-old Mohammed Adbel-Jamil al-Hajj as one of its members in Jenin and said his death by hanging on Sunday in a jail in the northern West Bank city was a "political murder."
Officials from Abbas' Preventive Security Force said Hajj committed suicide. "We strongly deny he was tortured," Preventive Security spokesman Mohammed Abu Nabhan said. "He had been arrested two days earlier. He had previously been arrested for illegal possession of weapons and belonging to an outlawed armed group."
