Israeli court to free Palestinian deputy PM -lawyer

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Sep 27 (Reuters) An Israeli military court today ordered the release of Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Naser al-Shaer, a top Hamas official, after more than a month in detention, his lawyer said.

''The court admitted there was not enough evidence to keep him in jail. He will be home in Nablus (in the West Bank) in a matter of hours,'' the lawyer, Osama al-Saadi, said.

An Israeli army spokesman said he was checking the information.

Israeli forces seized Shaer at his house on August 19.

He had not been at home, and was put on Israel's wanted list, in late June when the military detained dozens of Hamas lawmakers and a number of cabinet ministers after militants abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid from Gaza.

Thirty-one Hamas legislators are still in Israeli custody.

On Monday, an Israeli military court in the occupied West Bank reversed a decision to release 21 of them on bail, ordering the men held in detention until the end of judicial proceedings against them.

The military prosecution has charged the 21 Hamas members with belonging to a ''terrorist group'' and posing a security threat against Israel. Hamas, which came to power in a Palestinian election in January, advocates Israel's destruction.

There had been widespread speculation the legislators could be freed as part of a future deal for the release of the abducted Israeli soldier.

Reuters AB GC1618