Israel frees Palestinian cabinet minister

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Aug 14 (Reuters) Israel released Palestinian cabinet minister Mohammad al-Barghouthi today after detaining him for about six weeks, the minister said.

Barghouthi was arrested along with dozens of governing Hamas officials, ministers and lawmakers following a June 25 cross-border raid by Hamas and other militant groups in which an Israeli soldier was captured.

''They did not find anything against me. This is a political arrest. All ministers and lawmakers should be released too,'' Barghouthi told Reuters by telephone after he was set free from an Israeli prison in Jerusalem.

One of his lawyers, Ahmed Safeyyeh, told Reuters that Barghouthi was not charged and that Israel did not have the right to try him because he was a minister.

Barghouthi said he did not belong to Hamas but he was close to the group, whose charter calls for Israel's destruction.

Hamas won parliamentary elections in January, beating Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's long-dominant Fatah faction.

Barghouthi is the fourth cabinet minister to be released. Another four ministers and some 20 Hamas lawmakers are still behind bars.

Israel has launched a ground and air offensive in Gaza to try to find captured Corporal Gilad Shalit and stop cross-border rocket fire. At least 175 Palestinians have been killed, nearly half of them militants.

REUTERS SP RN2133