Abdel Aziz Duwaik
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Abdel Aziz Duwaik (Arabic: عبد العزيز دويك) is a member of Hamas, and the current Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council since January 18, 2006. Duwaik was a university professor at An-Najah National University in Nablus on the West Bank. He holds a PhD in Regional and Architecture Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Duwaik has been arrested many times and was exiled from the Palestinian territories and sent to southern Lebanon along with 400 other Hamas members by the Rabin administration in 1992.¹

Abdel Aziz Duwaik was arrested by Israel on June 29, 2006 as part of Israel's Operation Summer Rains. He was later released and then rearrested August 6, 2006. Duwaik claims he was severely beaten while in custody. Duwaik's lawyers have also claimed that he is being held in unsanitary conditions.² In August 2006 Duwaik was charged in Israel for being of being a member of Hamas along with charges of being in contact with Khaled Meshaal, leader of Hamas. Duwaik claimed that this was a "political trial" and stated that he did not recognize it. Duwaik accused Israel of using "political blackmail" and claimed that his arrest was in violation of international law.² Duwaik (along with a number of other Palestinian ministers and parliament members) was imprisoned in spite of his parliamentary immunity.

References

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