Hamas detained the Palestinian attorney general in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the highest-ranking Palestinian Authority official to be seized by the Islamists ruling Gaza, witnesses said. Members of Hamas's Executive Force detained Ahmed al-Mughani and his bodyguards after besieging his office in Gaza City and then driving off with the men, they said.Mughani is close to Hamas's secular rival, the Fatah party headed by president Mahmud Abbas. He is the highest official from the Palestinian Authority to be detained by the Islamists since they seized control of the Gaza Strip in a bloody takeover two months ago, overrunning security forces loyal to Abbas.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas as to why Mughani was detained. On July 31, a hardline Hamas leader said the group aimed to reform the judicial system in Gaza to try Fatah members for alleged graft. "We are going to reform and reconstruct the judicial system," said Mahmud Zahar, who served as foreign minister in the first cabinet that Hamas formed after it swept a legislative election in January 2006.