Aziz Dweik, a senior Hamas leader and the speaker of the Palestinian Parliament, has been released by Israel after months of detention without charge.

"Dr Aziz Dweik was released at the Beit Sira roadblock," in the occupied West Bank, the head of his office, Bahaa Yusef, told AFP on Thursday.

Israel Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman confirmed: "Mr Dweik has been released from Ofer prison."

Dweik's lawyer, Fadi Qawasmeh, said Israel had accepted his request not to renew his client's administrative detention for a further six months.

The Israeli army arrested Dweik on January 19 at a roadblock between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Dweik was appointed speaker of the Hamas-dominated Palestinian parliament elected in 2006.

Administrative detention is a procedure dating back to the pre-1948 British Mandate under which military courts can hold suspects without charge for periods of up to six months, which can be renewed indefinitely.

PHOTO CAPTION

Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament Aziz Dweik gestures after he was released from Israeli prison, at the Beit Sira roadblock in the West Bank.

Al-Jazeera